Sam's New Tattoo

My cousin Samantha asked me to draw

a little bow so she could bring

to get tattooed.

She said she wanted it drawn by someone she loved.

Aww. (That's me!)

So I drew a bunch of them with a

Chinese calligraphy brush so she can pick the best one

to her taste.

The final result?

Well I'd have to figure out

how to get the photo she texted me on this blog,

so that'll have to wait for another time,

but it did turn out pretty cool.

Cinderella on Broadway Was So Awesome!

Tonight we saw Cinderella on Broadway,

and I thought it was so awesome,

I think I want to see it again!

I went with my aunt, mom, PoPo, and cousin Sam

for Aunt Isabel's birthday.

The other day I had been walking past the theater to get home,

and I saw a woman in full Disney Cinderella regalia.

It was odd because the woman was like in her late forties,

and it was FREEZING out.

Jon said that if he were going,

he'd dress up like GusGus.

I'm kinda of sure that there are at least five people

who think they're going to see the Disney version of Cinderella

instead of the Roger and Hammerstein version for every showing.

Not sure what the difference is?

(Not that one is better than the other

because both are excellent.)

This is the Disney Cinderella:

This is the Roger and Hammerstein version:

I think Disney distributed it

--at least the TV version with Brandy in it--

but I love the Cinderella that Leslie Ann Warren plays.

  

Slippers are so back.

Heading to Tokyo and Taipei!

Woo-hoo!

Been working my butt off

since I got back from Istanbul.

(Working so much I can't tell if I have a sinus headache or migraine--

and I've never had either of those before!

Getting old is TERRIBLE.)

No point in making money if you can't enjoy it.

Or to sum it up in 2012 terms:

YOLO!

Third time to Tokyo.

First time to Taiwan.

Second time in Asia this year.

It's me, Jon, Wee, and Chris.

It should be fun times!

(My teeth hurt too.

I think I'm clenching.)

Asian Jade Society's Chinese New Year Dinner

My cousin Samantha asked me to accompany her to this event

because her coworker had some free tickets.

A free Chinese banquet meal is one of the stupidest things to ever turn down,

so I agreed to go.

Then it was canceled because of Nemo.

It was rescheduled the day of a big March storm,

but thankfully the snow started after we got home.

I don't really understand what the event actually was

since the woman sitting next to me was reading the program over

my shoulder, and I just gave it to her.

But it began with a dragon dance,

followed by a bunch of speeches and awards and more speeches

(and with about a thousand people or so,

we heard mostly "shhhhhhh"

for most of the time during the speeches),

and then some weird interlude with a Hispanic lady 

singing covers of some songs

with back up dancers.

It sounds like a bad dream or something, right?

The dinner was at Jing Fong.

It was my first time eating there.

(When we looked for a possible wedding reception place, 

they said they could hold up to

three more events and have the restaurant open at the same time.

We were really not interested in that sort of set up.

Queens has better Chinese food anyway.)

It was their most basic menu

--probably $250 per table (or $25 per person)--

which included: 

shrimp with mayo (mmm!),

basket of pork and chicken (eh),

fried tofu and seafood (eh),

chicken and corn soup (eh),

steak (mmm),

lobster (eh),

and then we left since it was getting late and loud 

and there was a storm coming!

Some women were dressed appropriately for a dinner,

and some were dressed like they were ladies of the night.

Most of the men were wearing nice suits.

I had Beyonce's "If I Was a Boy" video in my head.

We left as they were doing the electric slide.

Boogiewoogiewoogie!

 

So many red faces!

Everyone looked lucky that night.

(This is what half the room looked like--it was full on.)

Everyone loves a good Chinese new year bash.

Grandma's Chicken Soup and Meatballs

Today, I made my grandma's chicken soup and meatballs recipe.

It really sucks that she can no longer make it for us,

but I think her recipe was accurate enough

that it tastes similar. 

Add chicken thighs to water and salt for up to three hours or so.

Rinse the thighs before and after the salt bath.

Make the tiny meatballs with lots of love.

1 pound of meat

1/2 cup or less bread crumbs

1 cup or more Parmesan cheese

2 eggs

Mix together. Pinch about a thumb and two fingers of meat and roll.

(Three fingers will be too big.)

Freeze or refrigerate while you're getting the other stuff prepared.

Make this the day of the soup.

Mirepoix.

How much you want, is what she calls for.

We use one or two packs of the premade stuff from the market.

It's amazing how much time it saves since my knife skills are terrible.

Sweat mirepoix.

Brown chicken slightly.

Add as much water as you'd like soup--

make sure there's enough water

for the meatballs to float around in.

This isn't in Grandma's recipe, 

but if it's not chickeny enough, 

add some chicken flavorings (via bouillon cube or stock).

Bring to a boil then add meatballs

--one at a time!--

and cook for two or three hours on low heat.

Ladle it up, shred up the chicken,

and every bite will have a little meatball and a little chicken.

It tastes even better the next day!

And it will fill your heart containers to the max

and cure all ailments immediately.

Your belly will feel really cozy.

Gross: This One's About Feet and Blood

I feel like a voodoo doll! 

Today I got three of my moles removed/biopsied for skin cancer. 

I'm in such uncomfortable pain. 

Right after I left the doctor to get to work, 

my band aid fell off and there was blood everywhere. 

It was so gross. 

SO, SO GROSS! 

Because it was on the underside of my Dom toe.

(What is a Dom toe?

As you might be able to tell,

my middle toe and ring toe are about the same height.

My siblings, Wee and Dom, are twins.

My toes basically predicted I'd have twin siblings, of course.

I call the ring one Dom because he's the later chunky baby twin,

and the middle one Wee because she was the scrawny little baby twin.

I wrote this fact on a getting-to-know-you card in a college English course.)

Anyhoo. Yuck. 

I got to work and I found the band aide floating over by my big toe

and threw that out.

I sopped up as much blood in my shoe as I could.

I wrapped Dom toe in a paper towel.

I washed my hands, and I got to work.

(There are sales materials to be done, people!

And actual books due in stores in May.

What's a little blood?)

Luckily the anesthesia worked for a short while.

I took some Advil too.

It looks like what you imagine it would, but worse.

And this is the bleeding toe from Istanbul.

Anyway, back to the moles story.

These lacerations are going to be ugly scars too. I just know it. 

The doctor was really nice, but she didn't know how to make nice circles. 

AND I have my period--one of the heavy days. 

I feel like I am being drained of blood. 

It was the worst decision ever. 

Though I'm betting skin cancer is probably more uncomfortable. 

The other one is on my back and the last is on my belly. 

It is hard eating (because my belly expands when I eat)

and laughing (again the belly). 

Grr.

The one on my back just sometimes feels sore/itchy. 

So I put some more Vaseline on it to shut it up.

What a bitch.

The Exciting World of Metrics Lunch Box

The lighting in this exhibit was pretty low.

Anyway, I thought this lunch box was brilliant:

The Exciting World of Metrics.

I've never had a tin lunch box. 

I remember the few times I brought a plastic lunch box to school

the other kids would destroy it.

I remember I had a cool pink plastic elephant one,

and that barely lasted the day.

It never made sense to eat at school anyway,

since I lived so close, and I loved going home

to hang out with my mom, Wee, and Dom.

It was always good times with hot dogs 

(ketchup, spicy brown mustard, AND relish, thanks)

and PoPo noodles 

(aka chicken-flavored ramen noodles), 

forever!

60th Birthday, 30th Anniversary, Oh My!

My parents' 30th anniversary was the day we got back from Istanbul.

My aunt's 60th birthday was the day before today.

We went out to celebrate at a restaurant in Montclair.

This was delicious pineapple upside-down cake and salted caramel ice cream.

This was apple tart a la mode. Also delicious.

Here are Wee and Chris.

They were sitting across from us, so it was really easy to take a photo of them.

I wish I got a photo of my parents,

but it's cool.

Just imagine really happily married people.

Coming Home from Istanbul

Wednesday, 2/20: We departed after breakfast. Landed in Munich and were personally escorted by a Lufthansa employee to our next flight to Newark. It was a great trip. Wee was the only one who didn't have to go to work the next day. Freakin' Wee.

The short of it was that it was a wonderful trip! It seems like there's a huge chance of culture shock, but it seems a lot like NYC and SF had a baby in the middle of Europe and Asia. If Rockefeller didn't buy up the land on each side of the Hudson's palisades, NYC/NJ would totally look like Istanbul minus the mosques and palaces in the skyline. Mostly everyone understood English. The food was awesome and familiar and not too salty or spicy or anything. Everything tasted really fresh. And the vegetables, olives, fish and chicken and lamb, and bread were delicious. Except for some motion sickness on my end from riding backward in a car and waiting on the smaller ferry tour (to fill up like a Bergenline jitney bus outside of Port Authority before it departed), no one got sick. But even if one of us did, the hotel was amazing because of the bathrooms: SOAKING TUB. HEATED TILES. For real. The only weird thing was that everyone differed to Dom. "What would you like, sir?" (For the entire table.) But whatever, it's not the US.

Istanbul: Day 4

Tuesday, 2/19: It was beautiful and sunny, so we did a boat tour (Tyrol has tours that aren't as long as the official full-day Bosphorus tour--though note that the only toilet on the ship is a squat one that is basically a hole in the bottom of the boat), then walked to the Galata Tower, and up to Taksim Square along THE pedestrian street to walk up on. When we got to Taksim Square, we ate a sweaty burger and doner. Then we took a cab back. We wrote some postcards, had hotel snacks, then went to dinner at Turga at a palace. The traffic getting there was terrible. The place was beautiful, and we ate traditional Ottoman food including blue fish, which the restaurant had a special menu for because it was seasonal. It was great stuff. There was a Blackberry conference happening at the palace/nearby hotel, but there were a ton of dudes lounging about with little earpieces. Like they were all secret service types. When we left, it was raining--the first time we saw it rain since we landed, so that was really lucky.

Istanbul: Day 3

Monday, 2/18: 3 hour private walking tour and tasting lunch at Ciya (on the Asian side) with a really nice lady guide whose name we don't recall. We met her at the Spice Market. At the Spice Market, we ate cheese/a spicy cold cut; learned about spices from a very intelligent lady who let us sample a bunch of them. The spice lady had inherited the business from her family; went to college in upstate NY; is on Twitter and all. I'd def. go back there for spices. At a cafe nearby, we tried Turkish coffee and a sweet pastry that tasted like tiramisu mochi with pieces of chicken breast in it. I liked it. Then we took a ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul where we walked through the market and saw a sweets shop (beautiful marzipan), sampled pickles and pickle juice, and then to lunch. We ate a ton and took home leftovers. Then she showed us the outpost of the originator of the Turkish delight and escorted us to the ferry. The Asian side is the 'burbs (think NJ or the boroughs) to the European city's side (Manhattan) is what I gathered from her. We scaled the hill from the ferry to find the Cistern, but walked maybe 4 km in the wrong direction (uphill) before finding the place. And the Cistern was really cool! Then we got into a cab that basically tried to kill us. The cabbie tried avoiding 5:30 p.m. rush hour traffic by going up ridiculous hills (think of the steepest hills of North Bergen or SF or Oahu) in the WRONG direction. It was a little uncomfortable when we were pinned between a parked car and a gang of youths and had to back out; when we got close enough to our hotel, we walked the rest of the way. We ate snacks and room service.