promise

I've been procrastinating on updating this thing because I've been telling myself that I need to figure out what I'm doing here. Should I just keep randomly updating about my life? Should I pick a theme for the posts (book reviews, food porn, etc) and try to stick with it?

But now I think that was really just me be lazy and you know what, I'm just going to post whatever I feel like posting (for real, not like once every three weeks). What you have missed in the meantime: Rosa came to visit (from Texas!). She is the mouse in this picture.
Then Cheng and friends came to visit (from Ohio... duh).
Plus Angela and friends came to visit for her bday. So basically the last days of my summer were filled with wonderful visitations but alas, that means I was too lazy to take any pictures for myself which means I haven't got any more evidence of recent shenanigans. Not that I've been up to much... just work, laundry, and catching up on TV watching.

Which, btw, is pretty exciting. I mean the Gossip Girl kids are at NYU making me all nostalgic (except when they make things up like ROOFTOP DRINKING PARTIES and then I just get angry). Mad Men is beautifully written (as usual) and yet still shocking (lawnmower in the office + drinking = bad things). SYTYCD is back and I can't wait for the 30 Rock premiere, especially since I saw them filming an awesome looking episode outside my office building recently.

And yes exciting things are happening in publishing too (though not, I should note, in movies. I can't remember the last time I saw a really good contemporary movie). No I haven't gotten myself a copy of The Lost Symbol and no, it's not even on my reading list. I did spend a good deal of time at The Strand the other day and found some cool East Asian books to add to that list, however. Now I just have to get my butt over to the library to request them.

Lastly, in terms of food the most recent new restaurant I have tried was the Hand Pulled Noodle place on Doyer St. Beijing niu rou mian it was not, so needless to say my undying craving for that 6 kuai bowl of noodles/beef/veggies/quail eggs has not been fulfilled. But for only 5 bucks it was definitely satisfying.

I'm not going to leave off by revealing my weekend plans because then I will be forced to blog about them at a later date, instead of waiting till next week to recap. Hah. Let's see if I can outwit my own laziness-ness.

i heart office supplies

I'm not ashamed. I do. I heart post-it notes, and paperclips, and files, and of course pens. They are all awesome bc being organized is awesome. At least that is how I feel at the end of this first work week, when I'm still figuring out where everything is and what everything is. My desk is pretty much good to go, but I'm going to start tackling the other offices next week. That's right, on my watch there will be no such thing as a missing or disappearing folder. Big dreams, I know.

I'd just like to say that Rockefeller Center is pretty frickin cool. I've been wandering around the concourse, which is this underground maze of stores and shops connecting all the buildings in the complex so that one theoretically never has to step outside during the workday. You just go straight from the subway to the deli and into your building without ever seeing the light of day. This is nice now because it's 5 million degrees out, and I suspect I will appreciate it even more in the winter when I don't have to trudge through any sludge and worry about ruining my boots.

Also the shops pretty much run the gamut... There's Subway and Dunkin, of course, plus Starbucks and the necessary Chinese and Japanese places. They've got all the major food place covered (including Burger King for some reason) and Duane Reade and even a place to shine your shoes! I saw a bunch of business men sitting there and I had a serious Mad Men moment. Or is shoe shining still cool now?

Anywho, looking forward to next week for several reasons, one of them being I'll get my first real paycheck (sorry past part-time jobs, you don't count). I'm also a little nervous bc I'll officially be on my own to figure things out at the office, but I think since my colleagues have been so nice and helpful so far, I'll be ok. Fingers crossed.

you can't stop the heat

I'm sorry, but August is a worthless month in terms of weather. I have modified my schedule so that I now take two showers a day: one in the morning to wake up for work, and one when I get home bc I'm all sweaty from my walk back from the subway. Sorry impending water shortage, mother nature is making it impossible for me to care at this point.

Work is going well... I can't believe the week is almost over and then I will be officially on my own to run things! I guess the one good thing about August in this case is that it's a slow month for the industry, so I suspect I'll be eased gently into my position. Already I feel pretty official about it--I mean I have a spiffy photo ID now, that I keep in the same place as my unlimited metrocard. If that doesn't spell working woman, I don't know what does.

Not having a TV means that I have to find other ways to amuse myself when I do get home in the evening. Tonight: ironing and cooking for lunches. Excitinggggg I know. And I go to bed really early now. Though I still get more sleep than the UPS guy, cuz apparently he goes to bed at 11 and gets up at 5. In the AM! And I thought 7:30 was bad.

Next week Beijing Friend Rosa comes to visit!

Beautiful Day

It was in the 70's and partly sunny. Nice weather to reflect my nice mood. New York, I re-love you. I once was bitter but now am satisfied, was terrified but now I'm calm.

So 10 interviews and 3 months of searching, pulling out my hair, having near-heartattacks, and eating lots of icecream to stave off depression, I finally have a job offer! And I have accepted, and start work a week from Monday. Calloo callay! It happens to be perfect timing to go home for a week, too, so that's an extra added bonus. Basically, everything is falling nicely into place... finally.

After a wonderful day of walking around in the city, celebrating with margaritas, an arepa, and a Chickalicious cupcake, I'm now watching SYTYCD with J. You'd think it couldn't get much better, but actually tomorrow I'm going to meet up with China friends in Chinatown for (a Chinese) lunch :) And the day after that, Cheng and his mom come to visit. We're hoping to make another Brighton Beach run (and therefore hopefully eat some more vareniki).

I realize I've been very terrible the last couple months on keeping this thing updated, so I promise to do better now that I have good things to say. Now, off to enjoy the summer's last dose of Cat Deeley!

Weekend in Brooklyn

This is what I have consumed this weekend:

1 platter of 2 pupusas from the flea market red hook vendors (pupusa = fried tortilla stuffed with cheese/beans/meat and covered in homemade slaw and sauce)

1 mini marble scoop of blackberry icecream

cereal with fresh strawberries

1 iced coffee from ozzie's

1 frozen chocolate covered banana from louie g's

1 bread thing with artichokes, onions, eggplant, and goat cheese from grand army green market

Also this weekend we attended free first Saturday at the Brooklyn museum and caught the end of this cool concert thing outside the Brooklyn library. Also went shopping in Park Slope. What I didn't do was go to brunch or check out the botanic gardens... these things will have to wait for next week, when my lovely guests from Ohio arrive :) I just hope the super finally shows up to make the repairs on our apt by then... grrrr....

Graduation food

If you want to see real pics from graduation, here they are:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033040&id=33901973&l=8ba2c56443

If you want to see some food porn (Kwanghee!) you have come to the right place.


We went to the Union Square Cafe for lunch after commencement. Here's our soft shell crab appetizer:
Melody (and my dad) got the lamb bolognese lasagna and Cathy got a yummy pasta with peas (and I forget what else...)
Mom and I shared this pasta with fresh asparagus, spinach, mushrooms, and an egg (obviously). We also split my steak over greens with mushrooms. I realize now that I am terrible at describing food but hey, that's what the pictures are for.Lastly, they gave us a free desert in honor of our graduation. We had also ordered two other deserts, so it might have been a bit much, but it was sooooo goood. This was a honey glazed banana on a thin tart with ice cream. And those round things are macadamia nuts, NOT mini donuts haha.

But I'm not done yet! The next morning the padres and I went to breakfast at Noho Star and this proved to be a wonderful decision. I ordered the breakfast bruschette, which was scrambled eggs and sundried tomatoes on top of toast and goat cheese. Behold:
And lastly, Dad's challah French toast with lots of berries:

All right that's the last of it! Whew that took awhile, so I hope ya'll appreciate it :)

CRITICAL DECISION

I'm not sure why I'm posting this here bc I dunno who's actually going to give me feedback, but I need to decide this soon:

Should I go to the all-university graduation ceremony OR have lunch at Union Square Cafe?

On one hand, it IS my once in a lifetime graduation from college and Hillary is speaking (though I'm sort of indifferent about that). On the other hand, it's all the way at Yankee Stadium for four hours and you just sit there.

BUT this is my once in a lifetime opportunity to have my parents take me to USC, and it's basically a foodie's nirvana, so I should jump all over that. And I need to make a reservation like ASAP.

I wonder if it would be possible to do both. And to hang out with people that afternoon. Considering we wouldn't get dinner till like... 8... maybe it would be possible to have my cake and eat it too. Hm.