Catching Up with Friends

This weekend, I spent a lot of time catching up with old friends. It felt really good to see how everyone was doing after so long. It's difficult now when everyone's so busy with their respective schedules so I do cherish these gatherings.

Friday after work, I went out for drinks at Josie's new job happy hour at Traffic. I am so incredibly happy for her that she is finally able to move back to NY and that everything is falling back into place for her. A big congrats to her!! You deserve it all!

After drinks, we headed over to Bonchon for some late night munchies (aka dinner!) - I haven't had Bonchon in so long and it was deeeeelish.

 Josie's happy hour at Traffic

Bonchon wings

On Saturday, Andrew went to play basketball as per usual and I went to Crate and Barrel to pick up an overdue wedding gift for my friend King who got married last year in LA. I know she enjoys cooking so I picked up a cute spice rack for her - hope she likes it! We met at New Green Bo for lunch and Andrew was an hour late (surprised?). We talked about things going on in our lives, what we will be doing in the next 1-2 years (they're going to move to LA), apartments (shared the news that Andrew and I are planning to buy), and of course our jobs. The last time I met up with King was in Jersey City where I visited her apartment near Grove Street and we went out for dinner at a local Thai restaurant. By the way, after having soup dumplings in Taiwan, the ones at New Green Bo are quite gross. Even Shanghai Garden would throw this place out of the park. I used to really like this place, but it really doesn't compare now that I've had my fair share of sampling soup dumplings. After lunch, Andrew and I went to SOHO to run some errands (mainly for me) and we ended up at Crate and Barrel again for some premature furniture shopping at Crate and Barrel. Haha, I know...we are jumping the gun but it was really fun. I can't wait to build this new home with him. Here were some pieces we liked:

Shelf - thinking of putting it right outside bedroom door

Dining shelf - thinking of putting it right next to dining table

Outdoor couch - thinking of putting it on the terrace

Of course everything here cost an arm and a leg, so we are just using these as inspiration for ideas. We may have to shop elsewhere for more price friendly alternatives. We went back to the apt to relax and nap. For dinner, Andrew, Dave and I went to Kunjip and ordered WAY too much food. It was delicious though. The boys were still craving dessert after a huge dinner so we picked up some ice cream on our way back and I baked them brownies to go with the ice cream. 

On Sunday, I forced myself to get out of bed to go to a 10am yoga class at St Marks with Christine. I was actually really glad she wanted to go because I was supposed to go on Saturday but obviously never made it there. My back's been really bothering me so I knew a yoga session would definitely do me some good. Thanks Christine for making me go! :) I really need more workout dates with her! After yoga, Christine and I walked to Chinatown to meet Fanny, Danny, Albert, Erica, Michelle, and Andrew for dimsum at Sunshine27 on Bowery to catch up because I haven't seen these guys in ...too long! We had a really good (not to mention super cheap!) food and played awesome catch up. It's always fun catching up with them. After dimsum, we picked up some Kung Fu tea and I finally got to try the "Aiyu" jelly which they call fig jelly here in the US that I didn't get to try in Taiwan!!

Dimsum at Sunshine 27

Kung Fu Tea - Kung Fu Bubble Latte and Fig Jelly Iced Tea

Albie being himself

The fig jelly tea was light and refreshing, but nothing to rave about. Andrew and I weren't crazy about the bubble latte either - way too sweet! Everyone split up do their respective things and Fanny and I went walking/shopping around SOHO. I left around 5pm to meet my family at my Grandma's house for dinner at Mulan in Flushing. We got out own private room and my whole family enjoyed the food and "upscale" Chinese dining.

Brooklyn Gem

March 23, 2011

Andrew and I went back to Brooklyn on Friday night to have dinner with my parents. We went to our favorite local joint, HK Tea and Sushi. Every time we come here, we always get the baked dishes because it's what they are best for. Everything else on the menu is quite average. I ordered the Baked Minced Beef over rice, Andrew ordered the Baked Chicken Steak over Spaghetti, and my parents shared the Salmon Steak Combo. After we ordered, we broke the news to my parents that we finally have an accepted offer for our dream apartment. We still have a lot to do before we can say we are buying a place so hopefully everything pans out. I already know it's going to be a stressful process.

Baked Chicken Steak over Spaghetti

Strolling Around and Good Eats in NYC

March 18, 2011

Diana came apartment hunting with Andrew and I on Sunday afternoon but we didn't see anything we liked. Our heart was still with an apartment that we saw earlier in our search. The weather was sunny and cool, the perfect day to casually stroll around. We went to Stuytown to meet Ilya and Andrew and Ilya threw a football around Stuytown campus while Diana and I went to get some froyo. We walked to 16 Handles and each got a huge tub with one too many toppings - so much for "healthy" alternative to ice cream. I was so full after.

16 Handles froyo

Andrew went back to his apartment to "study" while Diana and I went to meet Josie at Barnes and Noble Union Square. We had the intention to do some career research but had no luck; I don't think any of us were really in the mood. After taking a few personality tests, we gave up. Diana and I headed to Totto Ramen in Hell's Kitchen and Andrew met us there. We waited over an hour for this.

Totto Miso Ramen

It was Andrew's and my first time having Totto Ramen and we enjoyed it. Diana and I got the Totto Miso Ramen and Andrew got the Totto Spicy Ramen. I still am not buying into the whole Japanese Ramen craze but it was still pretty good. IMO, the broth and texture of noodles was better than Ippudo's but the pork belly, egg, and variety of accompanying ingredients are probably inferior to Ippudo. 

Spiderman on Broadway

February 25, 2012


The weekend after Andrew and I came back from Taiwan, we had tickets to go see Spiderman on Broadway. I bought these tickets for him ahead of his birthday. I had no desire to see Spiderman particularly but I know Andrew would really like it since he loves his superheroes and cartoons. And most of all, he's been asking to go! He rarely has these requests so I immediately put it on our "must-do" list. NYC Go happened to have a Broadway sale (BOGO) so I jumped on it!

We enjoyed the show very much overall. It is definitely differentiated since this is the only broadway show with high-flying action. The visuals were definitely over the top - it's amazing how creative it was and impressive with how much they can do with so little space. The music on the other hand was mehhh but hey, you don't go watch spiderman for the music right?

My only other complaint was that the theater had the tiniest seats ever. We've seen a decent amount of Broadways and this theater (Foxwoods) is the most cramped - even for me, mind you I have shorter legs than most humans :P. Not going to lie, Andrew and I were still a bit jetlagged and felt pretty tired half way through. 

Big Birthday Weekend

I organized a surprise birthday gathering for Andrew's 25th. I'm not a good liar so the gathering came at slightly less than a surprise but Andrew enjoyed it nonetheless :) We had dinner at Zero Otto Nove in Flatiron. It was a nice casual classy Italian restaurant and had really great pizza and food overall.

We went back to the apartment for cake. I got him the blackout cake from Two Little Red Hens from the UES. Linda got me the same cake for my 24th birthday and I loved it. It's unbelievablely moist and rich. It is hands down the best cake I've ever had. I added some finishing touches with these adorable basketball candles. I know Andrew loved basketball since forever but I can't help but think of Jeremy Lin when I see these candles.

We headed downtown to Coopers for drinks and to hang out. It was a nice casual spot for a crowd our age. We saw a few friends from DSP as well so that was unexpectedly interesting.

Ended the night with some Artichoke pizza. Oh, it is so good. Best pizza ever.

Andrew and I spent a good chunk of the rest of the weekend apartment hunting. We mainly were looking in the UES. Josie stopped by the apartment to pick up some stuff for her trip to Mexico and we chatted for a while.

On Sunday, we had brunch at Jane's for Christine's 26th birthday. It was a fun, lively restaurant with a great brunch selection. It was fun to catch up and see everyone in a small group setting. I ordered the Benedict Johnny -

Our lovely party. Happy Birthday Christine! <3

What an awesome weekend!