Wednesday, November 2, 2011

New York (Food) State of Mind

I come for the touristy shtick. I stay for the food. 


I only had three full days in New York this time. The last time I was there, I got food poisoning after mixing cheese ramen and alcohol. I know, that really was my fault right there. So, NYC Goal #1: Don't get all pukey and shit (like, literally). I know, t.m.i right? 


NYC Goal #2: Don't go bat-shit crazy and try all the things I wanted and didn't get to try last time, because that would've just ended up frustrating me. New York isn't Hogsmeade; I could come back anytime I want to. Hell, I could live there if I wanted to. And Hogsmeade is real the same way Bruce Jenner's face is real.  So the Kardashian references begin. 


Day 1: 
Since the lodging was in Harlem, hell yeah I was going to get my soul food on! Oops, sorry Jesus, I meant heck yes. I heard that Amy Ruth's had some mean fried chicken and waffles. Laaaaaawd Jesus, it was good! 


I have a feeling I will get smitten down by lightning pretty soon. 




Crispy chicken and hot waffles at 9 AM? Amen.
Thankfully, all that meal of protein, carbs, sugar and spice was walked off - thoroughly and briskly - with a three-hour visit to the Met Museum. It's probably one of the best museums I've ever been to, and a wonderful refuge from the howling weather outside. One could easily spend days exploring this place....
Yep, it's raining alright.
Oh how true. 
Dude who cut his ear off...and his paintings.


Of course, this moi didn't stay there for days, because this moi was hungry for some good chow. But since it was pouring rain, just ran into the nearest restaurant in sight, which ended up being a good ol' Greek-ran diner. That's, like, every diner I've ever seen featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. I got the bison burger that was pretty much still pulsing. It was that raw. I said medium rare, but hey, it was still good, albeit a tad iron-y. 

I'm not even going to talk about the Guggenheim, except to say: WHAT A FREAKING BORE. Sorry. You know the kind of modern art that's so abstract and conceptual that you have to listen to the museum audio guide to understand it? And then, when they explain it, in that whispery, frail, I-only-listen-to-NPR-and-consider-a-canvas-with-a-stick-figure-drawing-sublime-art voice, you just wanna punch them (don't get me wrong, I love NPR). Funnily enough, one of the pieces was of a blank canvas with a rock piercing through it. Like, I can do that on a Tuesday. 

That is all.

It's a good thing I went to F.A.O Schwartz afterwards and got some of the happiness sucked out by the Guggenheim back. I even got to play on the Big Piano.
Meet F.A.O door guy. He's my new friend.
Doing "Chopsticks" like Tom Hanks in Big. Like a boss.
More happiness ensues while watching "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," that night. Can I just say, I wanted to see this musical for the sole purpose of seeing Daniel Radcliffe/Harry Potter (he can run from it, but he can't hide). I ended up liking it for so many more reasons than him. Namely, John Laroquette.


That's my best shot of Danny boy from the stage door. He's so short and pale.
John Laroquette! Yes, that evil guy from Richie Rich.




After Nathan's for dinner, we end an incredibly fulfilling and exhausting Friday.
Can't go wrong with Nathan's chili dog. Om nom freaking nom.


Day 2:
After the feet-blistering first day, Saturday was a little bit more chill, and more about food than anything else. It started off with one of the best marriage of food on earth: croissant and hot dog. Seriously, Patisserie des Ambassades? You're a freaking genius. The croissant was buttery, the hotdog wasn't salty at all (kinda like Nathan's), then you get the contrast in textures. OK, I have to stop writing about this, it's making me nauseously hungry. 
Fat and butter. Yum. 


Then, some strolling around lower Manhattan, witnessing first hand the second week of Occupy Wall Street near WTC. Even then, during its nascent stage, OWS definitely felt different from witnessing other protests. 
The new World Trade Center
The OWS marchers.



I guess what separates the tourists from the locals is how well one group navigates the changing subway routes due to construction. Sometimes, you just gotta look up from your google maps and read the signs. Which is how I ended up riding up to midtown and stopping at Madison Square Park. Which is also where the famous Shake Shack's original, um, Shack is located. So I lined up and waited. And waited. And waited. And finally got the ultimate, gut-busting, cheesy behemoth of guilt: a Shake Stack, which is a fresh, molten hot cheeseburger and a portobello mushroom stuffed with cheese, inside a bun. Dare I say, it was as good, if not better than, In N Out. Please don't hurt me. 
Yup, that's the line for burgers and shakes. And we wonder why Americans are such a bunch of fatties.


Thankfully there was a great bluegrass concert going on nearby.


My reward: Shake Stack and Red Velvet Custard


After this delicious lunch, I took the stairs all the way up to Empire State Building's observatory. And Kim K. and Kris Humphries' marriage was for real. ESB was another tourist trap that was actually very fun. You kinda had to shove your way through the throng of people, but I eventually got some premium views of a beautiful, even if a little foggy, Manhattan. You can really feel the density of the city from this vantage point, of eight million people living on top of each other, breathing each other's air, sharing each other's life stories. 
East Side


Once again, the new WTC
And, wouldn't you know it, it's time for more food. This time, the long wait is for Ippudo, which has some of the best ramen I have ever had. I mean, when you have a bunch of Asians waiting hours to get a seat, you know it's gotta be good. Coz, y'know, we know good food. And this was no exception. I've been lazy writing Yelp reviews for this trip, but I screamed my approval for this one


Shiromaru Hakata Classic with extra braised pork belly. PURE ECSTASY.
After a bit of strolling around Midtown, took a little break and then went out again later that night. The intention was to go dancing, but when I saw Pop Burger at the Meatpacking District, I had to go in for some more food. Because, what the hell, we're here right? Who cares if it's 2 AM and I just had four meals before this? 



Fries were amazing, burger was delicious; Onion rings, meh not so much.
So, instead of shedding some calories on the floor, we ended up gobbling up more. That, and a lovely cocktail at a lovely hotel above Hiro (our original destination) closed this gut-busting day. 

Day 3: 
Finally, I could say I've been to Brooklyn. Because I went to Brooklyn. Although only the very tip of it, because I spent most of the time...you guessed it, waiting in line for food. Seriously, the lengths I go for good chow. This time, it was for supposedly one of the best (and oldest) pizza joints in Brooklyn, Grimaldi's. It's that type of restaurant that gets featured on every imaginable food/leisure magazine, is Zagat-rated, has a million reviews on Yelp, doesn't take credit cards, makes people who only want take-out wait in the same line as people who dine in. You get the picture. In hindsight, it's not the best pizza I've ever had, but that definitely didn't matter because we were famished by the time we sat down, so really you could've served us Domino's for all I care and we would've thought it was the best thing on God's green planet. It's definitely authentic, Brooklyn-style pizza, with a charred butt, a sprinkling of pepperoni, sausage and mushrooms (our toppings), and lots of attitude. 


Mmmm, meatzzzzzaaaaa.
We then strolled around Dumbo, Brooklyn (too lazy to explain, just google it), and saw terrific views of lower Manhattan, before taking the water taxi back to Manhattan. 


BOOOOO.
After a few more miles of aimless walking, we had dinner at the lovely East Village Venezuelan hotspot Caracas Arepa Bar.  While the service was inconsistent, the food was consistently great. Their shredded beef arepa and black bean empanada were divine. 
Shredded beef, black beans, cotija cheese. TD4.


Sunday was, indeed, a fun day. And, to wrap the whole thing up, I decided to stroll around that area shunned by locals and flocked by tourists, Times Square. But, while I was amazed by how bright and ostentatious this area was, I was more impressed by how many bars in the Upper West Side were filled with people -- I'm assuming working people from the neighborhood -- at 1 AM. On a Sunday/Monday. While Times Square may give NYC that caffeinated, "city never sleeps" gloss, it's these neighborhood bars that really tell the story.

Last Day:
While I never liked last days on vacations, thankfully, there was time to kill before this flight back home. As a last hurrah, strolled Central Park and had delicious crepes afterwards at Crepes on Columbus. Seriously, can this sound any more like Enchanted's version of New York City? 








Breakfast crepe of goat cheese, spinach, and bacon. Heavenly sunshine.


As that narrator on Enchanted would end, "...and they lived happily ever after." And yummily, too.






Thursday, October 20, 2011

Life moves to Music

Last week, I discovered The Current through my Tune-in Radio app. I cannot believe I haven't discovered this app and, consequently, this amazing radio station sooner. Anyway, I tried to tune in to this station while I was writing some work e-mails, but soon enough I realize I couldn't listen to music while I'm doing "real" work, i.e. work that requires actual brain power, because it's so hard for me to hear music without really getting into it. It won't be too long that I'm listening to a song before I'm singing along with it, or at least bopping my head, tapping my feet, drumming my fingers. Which could look pretty odd to the random passer-by to my office cubicle. I don't necessarily have to understand all the lyrics (heck, took me about 5 listens before I realized what "Pumped Up Kicks" was all about. Yikes.); sometimes it's as simple as a rhythmic hook or a catchy melody and I'm lost in the song. Even right now, I'm writing this in stops and starts because One Republic's "Good Life" is playing, which is my newest (albeit not a new) album purchase. Gotta love Amazon's MP3 store. Boyz II Men Legacy album for $5. Um, yes please!

I hate silence. Which is weird that I like living alone. I always do have some type of sound going on at all times until I go to sleep, whether it be the TV blaring, the internet radio playing, or the podcasts streaming to help put me to sleep. Which I realize is pretty futile because I can't exactly not listen to the content, because they're pretty damn interesting. Take yesterday; it's 1 AM and I put on "Wait, wait don't tell me..." to help tire me out enough so I go to sleep. Before you know it, it's 2 AM and I'm laughing my ass off to Peter Sagal's joke about Herman Cain's 9-9-9 Plan (best line ever: "Cain's 9-9-9 plan is meant to...stop German tourists in their tracks." Genius). Result: I had a short sleep but a happy heart. 

And there's no sound more beautiful and enlivening than music. I love how there's a song or musical piece for pretty much every single human experience, even for something as mundane as checking your credit report (and it's a pretty catchy tune, too!) I know there are even some songs that I play in my mind for the fantasy version of my life, like "Save the Best for Last," or "Party Rock Anthem," in which I am the champion of a post-apocalyptic dance-off. I'm not super pretentious about my music choices, and it kinda irks me how this is the one subject that normally level-headed, agreeable people can be super snarky about. I admit, I've done it myself once or twice... "Ew, you like the Backstreet Boys?" Um, yes, bitch, I do. Why can't we all just appreciate all types of melodies, harmonies -- or deconstructed, experimental versions of it -- rhythms, beats, chords, choruses, modulations, I'm-just-spitting-out-random-music-terms-now....and get along? 

Monday, October 17, 2011

What I'm Thankful For...

There are so many things that I could be sad about. The deepening chasm between Americans - socioeconomic, ideological, political, and otherwise. The lack of jobs for many recent (and not-so-recent) graduates -- this is my generation. The bullying epidemic. The inevitable chill of winter. The last season of "Chuck." 


And I do lament those things. But,  you know what I look for when I open up my news app in the morning (it's seriously the first, no, second thing I do when I wake up)? I look for the good, heartwarming news: the articles about Good Samaritans, reconciled individuals, reunited family members/friends, cute dogs with their own book (Boo!).
Seriously, how can you not love me?
 That, or beautiful photos of my beautiful nephew doing beautiful things...or nothing at all. 
Yaaaaaaaaawn.
So, instead of concentrating on the negative, let's live on the sunny side of the street, the greener patch of grass...let's wake up on the right side of the bed, shall we? Otherwise you'll end up with a back-ache and the dire need for an Icy Hot patch (which I actually had to use last week; needless to say, I felt like a grandmother). Besides Boo and my adorable nephew, this is a short list of the many joys that graced my life in the last few weeks:

1) Blogger - can I just say how awesome it is to have free blog-hosting sites? Just think, before blogs, I had to write my thoughts down on...(shudder)...paper! Just kidding, of course, but it is so easy to take techie tools like this for granted, when only a few years back the only way (and reason) I could share my written word was to get it published in our school newspaper back in the Philippines. To that end I'm also grateful for...

2) Nostalgia - recently a classmate from the Philippines visited me for a few weekends, and we got to reminiscing about the good old days. While it's good to keep moving forward (like a Toyota), it's also fun to reminisce. We talked about the petty fights (and boy, were they childish!), the overnight stay at our classroom to talk about the school year (soph year, '03), camping trips, etc. 

3) Karaoke/sing-alongs - I love singing, even if I'm not a great singer. And what I love even more is singing with good friends. That's why I will always be down for karaoke, or an impromptu sing-along session around a piano. Seriously, hit me up anytime. 

4) Replaceable hard drives - I was debating whether I should get a new computer and get a PC (because Macbooks are mad expensive yo) or just replace my old Mac with a new hard drive. I went for the latter and got an inexpensive 500 GB hard drive on Amazon; popped the old one right out and now my Mac's running smooth as silk. 

5) Steve Jobs - for being so obsessed with making the best tech products for consumers. My Macbook may be  4 years old and hanging on by a thread, but it's still humming along just fine with its new HD. Now, Steve might not have wanted to hear that -- I'm guessing he wanted everyone to replace their laptops/iPhones/iPads/iPods/iSomethingorOther every time Apple releases a new version -- but hey, it's Apple's fault my laptop just won't quit!
 

6) Skype - 2-hour Skype session with my mom & dad? Priceless.

7) New York City - it's loud, it's crowded, it's expensive, it's dirty. It's a City. It's larger-than-life. It's vibrant. It's got history. It's got great food. It deserves its own well-composed essay. 

8) Free shipping with minimum purchase - four cute tops, pants, and skirt for $70 AND free shipping? I'm shocked, JC Penney. Yes, I did say JC Penney. 

9) Pippin - Ah, dogs. They're so simple, so needy, but so unconditionally loving. It was so fun taking care of this li'l beagle for a few days, and he got plenty of belly rubs and a healthy dose of HGTV and Keeping Up with the Kardashians. 


10) My sister's sonogram - could this be any more exciting? I can't believe I'm going to be an aunt for the second time!!!! I'm just so thrilled for my sister, my brother-in-law, and our family. We're so blessed to have a fantastic support system, and I can't wait to come home for Thanksgiving to see my sister's baby bump! And, of course, plan a fabulous baby shower. 
Ah! An alien!
My cup runneth over. 

Thursday, September 8, 2011

That's Week!


This past week has just been such a blur and a blessing that it's really only till now that I've been able to stop and reflect what a fast-changing world I live in. 

It hasn't always been this way though. The path towards my promotion at times felt glacial in its pace. I have questioned whether I would get it at all at some point. But when I finally got tapped to start interviewing for the promotion, I rediscovered the reasons that made me great at my job and the things I can still accomplish while I'm here. That entire process took a while, which is why when the real thing happened so quickly I almost felt gypped! All that prep boiling down to am hour's worth of interviews?!?! Eh, I guess that's how everything goes in life right? Whether it's for a performance for your job...or your life. Which brings us to last week. You know when you've had a good week through and through, because those weeks happen once in a millennium. Unless you're Kim Kardashian, in which case I love/hate how addicted I am to your family. 

Anyway, guilty-pleasure-confession aside, the week started out with a whimper and ended with a bang. Much like Kim K.'s career. I think I just made an inappropriate reference somewhere there, but i don't care. 

Monday was judgment day. It s really not fun going in for an oral exam of sorts, or getting scrutinized in general. But afterwards, there was such a sigh of relief that all I could do was smile the whole day. Then fell asleep of exhaustion and anticipation. 

Tuesday: You know that pit in your stomach as you await for the exam results? You can't exactly concentrate on anything, and I am already something of a space cadet (wow, have not used that term since i was obsessing over Sweet Valley's Unicorn Club series). Thankfully my team had an outing to that great, freakishly huge annual event, the Minnesota State Fair. Really, what can be more distracting than molten cheese stuffed inside corn dog batter and deep fried. This fair was a cardio-clogging, cataclysmic cheese consumption-rama of sorts for me. Not only did I start off with cheese on a stick, I then proceeded to eat cheese curds (a classic), mac and cheese on a stick (what is it with fairs and impalement devices?!), deep fried cheesecake, and the most ridiculous thing I've ever eaten, a deep fried cheeseburger. That monster was SICK in both +/- manners. It was delicious and burger -y. And I could feel the slick of the oil slipping down my throat after every bite of that Lipitor-beggin' in a bun. 


The infamous deep fried cheeseburger; trust me, you don't wanna see what's inside



Truly after a pig-out like that I would need some mad coffee fix to keep me going for the rest of the day...that, or the sweet news from your group manager that you got the promotion. That must be one of the all-time best ways to tell someone good news: do it at a state fair with happy people, happy food, happy rides, happy cows. Wait, those cows are from California. TV ad reference high five! I was so overly ecstatic that all I could do was smile all the way from the midway to my next food fix. I believe that was when we got the cheesecake, which was followed by a celebratory Guinness as my team was told of the news and we did an impromptu happy hour. 
Yey Guinness!


Alas, a day like that would be so heart-filling already, but the sun still has to set. And I still had a Script concert and a fantastic reunion with my high school friend Jade to go to. We haven't seen each other in almost a decade, so to find out he was here, of all places, was just the most perfect thing ever. Taking him to the Script concert was awesome because the Script put on an A-freaking-mazing show that night, even above and beyond their concert last year at the State. And thus, a new Script fan is born. And two good friends are reunited over great live music and delicious food (ah Eli's, you will always be a fave).


The Script



It took me a good day to get down from my cloud. I was thrilled to learn the new area I will be moving to, but not without a tinge of sadness as I really liked the team I was working with. I don't think a lot of companies allow their employees to do team outings in State Fairs or pontoons, or have Friday afternoon mini-golf tournaments and Nerf gun battles...

Cut to the weekend (coz everybody's looking to the weekend, weekend...), and it was the most relaxed yet productive (I know, I know, I live in a world of contradictions) long weekend ever, as I had some fun visitors stay with me to see Minneapolis, Mariel-style. We started off by visiting that mecca of excess, Mall of America for some good ol' style shopping. And I realized why I hate MoA on the weekends: all those damn kids. I swear one of these days I'm going to just wear riot police gear when I go shopping there so I could just     plow through the crowd and get to my shopping. After the mall that resulted in one measly (but pretty) shirt, we headed back to Minneapolis for dinner at Rinata, which was also a first for me. It was an absolute gem of a find in Uptown, with deliciously fresh bread service, mouth-watering mushroom and blue cheese bruschetta, and salty, unctuous soppressata salami pizza. And delicious eye candy, per my friends. :)
Soppressata Salami Pizza @ Rinata

After a filling dinner, we walked it off -- and I do mean WALK -- by taking a stroll down the Mississippi River. I sometimes forget how beautiful the Riverfront is, especially when you take in the gorgeous view of the skyline from the St. Anthony Bridge...
Mill City Museum



Hennepin Bridge, Riverfront, Minneapolis


Of course, you've gots to end Saturday night with a blast, which we did on the dance floors of Gay 90's (I swear, they should have a loyalty card for that place, coz I go there so often I should be getting free drinks by now). I told Jade the drinks there were pretty strong, to which -- a few drinks later -- he happily agreed with, adding "I didn't know they would be that strong." Indeed, if there's anyone who knows how to make a mean Vodka Diet, it would be the 90's. All those drinks definitely helped keep myself and Jade warm after we left the bar at 2 AM and couldn't catch one effing taxi. I swear, some taxi drivers can be such jerks; none of them wanted to take us because we were "too close" to make money off of. Thankfully, the pedicabs came to our rescue, as we rode two separate pedicabs in 40 degree weather back home. THANK YOU Carson and Stormy (yep, that was his name) for driving us all the way to Slice of New York, grabbing some late night grub at 3 AM with us, and getting us home safe and (cold but) sound. 
Don't mess.

With all the craziness of Saturday, Sunday ended up a little more low-key, which was just the way I like my Sunday. Well, first off we woke up at 2 PM, so that pretty much dictated the rest of the day. We had great Vietnamese food at Pho 79 and got Jade hooked on the delicious elixir that is the pho broth. :) Afterwards, we walked a few mere blocks to my favorite free museum in Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It never ceases to amaze me how so much beauty can be housed in this museum that kinda pops out of nowhere in a residential neighborhood, and is offered to its patrons for free! 

I carry that same grateful feeling when I walk to the Sculpture Garden by the Walker and get to show my friends the famous Cherry & Spoon Bridge, as well as other sculpture pieces. I do love how you can get the most perfect view of the Minneapolis skyline from this vantage point. 

We ended Sunday with a dinner cooked at home (parmesan crusted chicken and garlic mashed potatoes, yuuuuuumy!) and our umpteenth viewing of Enchanted. Alas, "True Love's Kiss," "Happy Working Song," and "So Close" were stuck in our heads for the remainder of the long weekend. At least it replaced "Rehab" (seriously). :) 

You never take a Monday holiday for granted, so we rented a Zipcar and drove to another oversized, excessive establishment called Albertville Outlet Malls. Labor Day Weekend is that magical holiday when all retailers decide to drop their prices (and even more from their already discounted outlet retails) and entice shoppers to spend their hard-earned cash on things like margarita makers and Crocs shoes. To which I say, "To each their own, I'm gonna get myself three good bras" (which I did; score!!!). Shopping feels most satisfying when I achieve certain goals, and I was definitely cheery after I found the best pair of sandals that I will use over and over again until it quits on me. I heart Clarks. Seriously. 

Alas, not all weekends can last forever, and after 5 very productive hours of shopping, I decided to take my friends on one last hoorah by going to the whitest place I know, Maynard's in Excelsior. I could see my friends were very titillated by the sights. And I'm not just talking about the lakefront view.   

Last week was a wonderful, blessed week. I'm so grateful I got to experience it with great company, and I'm glad to share it with my friends and family in writing. And, every week can be this fabulous; coz life is what we make it. Like a boss.