First Summer Friday!

My first summer Friday this year

was so much fun.

I just wish I'd worn a jacket.

It was basically freezing if you wander out without one,

and it rained a ton.

The best part of the day was when we holed up

in the back of a cafe in LIC

that played some great music.

For lunch Pam, Kat, and I went to M.Wells at P.S. 1 MoMA,

and it was quite delicious.

Bryan met up with us shortly after,

and we explored the museum.

One of the rooms was a room of ice.

I believe they were glacier specimens from an old glacier,

but it was too cold to really figure it all out.

Another room had global trashcans.

Some had actual trash (from snarky visitors I suppose.)

The building is much like the grammar school I went to,

though there are two sets of stairs,

and two stairwells in each corner.

It seemed a bit excessive.

The art in the halls was much more enlivening

than my grammar school's halls though.

As part of the rain exihibit at the MoMA in Manhattan,

there's this other exhibit at P.S. 1.

Basically in the atrium part,

they built an indoor pond with koi fish (see above).

And a waterfall.

I am not so much into standing around and reading about the art

as much as I am about seeing and taking in the art.

I've not had a chance to read about it,

but experiencing it was pretty cool.

The cold weather and the rain and the constant waterfall sounds though,

well, good thing there were some bathrooms around.

One other cool thing was the boiler room.

One of the pieces had saliva in it.

You just have to wonder why and where and why.

After lunch, museum viewing, and cafe catching up,

we headed into the city and join Nat and Dani

(Kat went home)

for dinner at Empellon

to celebrate an intimate birthday dinner with Pam.

The food was good, but it was all a bit expensive and loud,

and I wished it were just as cozy and low key as the cafe.

Joy's 30th Birthday Dinner

We went to Chez Sardine for Joy's 30th birthday dinner.

It was a nice intimate affair

with great travel stories that featured

a lot of food

and a delicious array of food and drinks in our mouths

that filled our bellies.

It was some good celebrating.

I made the card above in the morning:

Liberty of London stationery carved into a 3 and 0.

I wanted more space to write

the secret thing I've been writing in my cards

so I didn't cut out the 0.

I rather like how it looks still filled in

and unmarred by the 0's gash.

What do you think?

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.

David Chang's Noodletown Obsession with Ginger Scallion Noodles

If you read any interview with David Chang,

the chef/owner of Momofuku and that whole empire,

you'll know that he adores the ginger scallion noodle dish

from Noodletown.

Jon's por por lives across the street from Noodletown,

and it's basically the only place we get our cha siu (amazing pork) in Chinatown.

But we've never gotten the ginger scallion noodle dish

until now.

It's pretty hom (that is salty).

I've made David Chang's ginger scallion sauce many times,

and it's never been as salty.

I don't know if I'd get it again.

I'm a chow fun kinda lady myself.

(Oh baby, you wide floppy rice noodle. Mmm!)

But I guess that's the advantage to making a dish yourself

is that you can regulate the salt

and cut the scallions to more easily digestible pieces.

I was so hungry when I ate this that I was choking on the scallions.

Try the noodle at least once if you like,

but always get the cha siu.

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.

Last Dinner at Kajitsu in the East Village

I was dying from exhaustion due to jet lag,

but it was the last dinner ever at Kajitsu in its regular location.

They were moving to Murray Hill in March.

I really just wanted to sleep,

but we drove down to the East Village for dinner at 9 p.m.

and we ate a most satisfying meal.

Jon got the Hana menu.

I got the Kaze.

It was just like the good old days when we went there monthly.

Hopefully when they reopen in Murray Hill

it will be just as delicious.

I'm glad I suffered through my exhaustion

and ate something delicious

in a wonderful little basement restaurant

that felt like home and like being on vacation in Japan.

Obika's Delicious Balls

The other day

Jon and I went to Obika,

the NYC branch of an Italian mozzarella bar.

So we obviously got the mozzarella sampler:

Classico: Good

Ricotta: Delicious! (Get this one)

Burrata: So creamy, but needed salt

(They ran out of the roasted mozzarella.

We need to get that next time.)

And we got the crostini:

Ndjua and mascarpone: So good!

Capers and peppers: Needed more pepper flavor

Tomatoes: Good

It was off to the side of one of NYC's public spaces.

It was like alfresco dining, but indoors.

A big Italian family sat near us.

It felt like we were in Italy.

Bellissimo!

Mangosteen In My Dreams, Mangosteen In My Dreams

I wrote/sang this song for Dairy Queen when I lived in Reston, Virginia:

Dairy Queen

in my dreams!

Dairy Queen

in my dreams. . . .

The closest Dairy Queen to our apartment was a small trek.

But even with three or four other fro-yo/gelato/Ben & Jerry's type options,

Dairy Queen was my muse,

and I needed a sundae.

Like NEEDED one.

Mangosteens aren't in that category,

but it works well in this song.

And they are a kind of dreamy fruit.

A hard nut-like shell,

but inside are soft, sweet segments

ready to explode in your mouth.

KABOOM!

Glittery Snow

It snowed on Friday.

Superglittery snow.

Like, I guess you get a sense of the glitteriness,

but there were lots more surrounding us.

I finished up a freelance project

and the longest four day work week, ever.

Jon met me at work to go to Bill's Burger.

We sat in a booth and got burgers,

mini corn dogs, and disco fries.

We ate it as if we hadn't eaten anything in a month.

It was Irish coffee day or something,

so their alcoholic shake had Baileys and Jameson.

We passed and got hot chocolates for the long trek home.

(It's been so cold out that getting a cab home has been

scarcer than getting one during a downpour.)

My sister told me about one of her patients

that had a rectal temperature of 70 degrees.

That's cold.

Your butt should be at least around 99 degrees.

NYC didn't seem to bother plowing.

The hot chocolate helped a bit, 

but the snow was hitting our faces.

Jon found it too sweet.

What was pretty about the snow

was that it like shined like little diamonds.

They weren't the fat ones.

They were small and shiny.

This is a photo we took together.

I held the camera and a hot chocolate in each hand.

Jon pressed the buttons to take the photo 

and his held his hot chocolate with each of his hands.

Teamwork!

Chris's Keens Delicious Awesome Birthday

For Chris's birthday,

we went to Keens Steakhouse.

It was delicious.

Our takeaway bag sits on our pile of bags,

and Jon reminisces about how good his mutton chop was

every time he sees it.

Wee and Chris asked if we were interested in getting appetizers,

and I was like,

you don't understand how big your steak's going to be.

Let's just order them. 

Chris's steak was about the size of Wee.

Wee's is about the size of her torso.

Dom's the size of his head.

I couldn't even get Jon and his mutton chop in the same frame.

That was like the size of Wee and Dom when they were

in my mom's uterus.

These photos are terribly dark,

but I got a huge delicious steak that I ate the next day too.

Sides! Mmm. The best.

A bibble.

Mmm. Sooo good!

What's a bibble?

Strawberries and cherries and sugar

with some

(say it with me in a South Park voice)

creme fraiche.

A takeaway bag.

That's what we looked like afterward.

And then we found a hat on Chris's car

because it was parked outside of a bar on the street.

A lewd hat.

Is that boobs on a butt?

That's definitely boobs.

Perhaps this was foreshadowing their engagement

the following weekend?

Confucius Style Poultry

It wears a little pin.

So you know what style poultry it actually is.

Al Hirschfeld's Secret Hiding Spot

Tucked under the steps, 

of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 

like a kid wizard,

is a display of Al Hirschfeld's desk and chair.

On display is a rotating print of his work--

unfortunately this is a crappy photo,

so you can't really see what's on the page here.

The chair is like an old barber's seat

but even more optimized for absolute comfort.

The desk is marvelously old and loved.

I remember being so confused about who Al Hirschfeld was

when I was twenty-one.

I was at Alfredo's

with a publisher and editor

for whom I'd been interning,

and it was my good-bye lunch/happy college graduation lunch.

They were talking about Al Hirschfeld and Ninas.

I nodded and smiled and played my quiet-but-wise-beyond-her-years card.

I think it worked.

The first time I was at Alfredo's--

sometime earlier in college--

I hadn't even noticed the Hirschfelds.

His worked is tucked away almost everywhere.