tackling my to do list

i make to do lists almost every single day. yep, i take an 8.5 x 11 sheet of used printer paper, fold it in half, and jot down a to do list on a daily basis at work, adding to it throughout the day. and sometimes i'll combine my lists too! ooooh ~~~

most of the tasks are to be done in the evening or on the weekend, but knowing me, i tend to think of a million thing that i want to get done when i'm at the office well unable to do any of them from my desk. and i think i'm over-worked during the day, so when i get home, i go into home-lock-mode where all i want to do is get some food on the table and zone out for a while.

my lists keep me in line.

so today i finally tackled a couple items on my to do list, which included cleaning up the dining room table (aka throwing out stuff), sorting some clothes which have been piling up on our bedroom bench, and watering, repotting, and moving around the plants in our apartment.

it's nice to have some variety in terms of arrangement, and to say hello to different plants in the morning in the bathroom and along the sideboard. most of the plants we chose require low to mid-light, so they have all been pretty healthy so far.

below is one of our philodendrons, our recently acquired mistletoe fig bonzai tree, and an assortment including the string of pearls succulent, snake plant, tillandsia abdita red air plant, and marble queen.

suburbs

we got up early this morning and made our way up to the upper east side so that kevin could run in the nyrr UAE 10k. it was sunny, 70F, and muggy out. conditions were definitely not optimal for any PR'ing today, elites or amateurs!

temperatures had reached the mid-80s by noon and it was taking a toll on me. i felt sluggish as we arrived to our friend's home in short hills, nj, but the kids - thomas, jack, and erika, kept me entertained :) carsten and meaghan prepared a delicious bbq for us and we ate together out on their backyard patio.

the last time we visited them, which was probably 8 months ago, erika was just a newborn and immobile in her carrier. this weekend, she was on her feet and walking all over the place (better barefoot than in shoes)! she had a completely different demeanor from the boys, who were boisterous and always rough housing each other; erika was angelic! and so shy at first too. she would look at you in the eyes, blush, and turn away, pushing her face into meaghan or carsten's shoulder. by the time we were leaving, however, she had been happily passing time in my arms and kevin's, and kevin even spent a little time with her inside her gated play area :)

after the bbq, we spent the evening with my parents having taiwanese food at the bowling alley restaurant, shopping at costco, and watching HGTV together. in addition, my mom taught us how to make 酒釀！ here is a pic when we first steamed the sticky rice! now it is in our guest room, the yeast starting to do its work and we will check up on it in a couple days. fingers crossed for the sweet aroma of rice wine and nothing green or fury!

rocketpig & raspberry pi

it was a beautiful afternoon when we hurried out of our respective offices for kevin's 35th birthday celebration!

kevin had requested a little celebration with just the two of us, and since we have a race tomorrow morning at the park, i planned a quiet night for us at the apartment. with two picnic combos from rocket pig spread out on the coffee table, we watched an oldie but goody from our respective pasts: back to the future i.

each of our picnic combo came with a smoked, spice-rubbed pork on ciabatta rolls with red onion jam and mustard sauce, two house-made pickles,  coleslaw, chips, a brownie, an oatmeal raisin cookie, and ginger/root beer. we were floored by the rocket pig sandwiches. they were unbelievable - hands down THE BEST pork sandwich i have ever eaten, the meat tender, yet lean, and falling apart. we will definitely be going back and bringing all of our friends!

here's a pic of kevin playing around with his new raspberry pi! we're not sure what he's going to do with it exactly yet, but i have no doubt his brain is working overtime to figure out his next project :) 

happy birthday, hubby!

happy birthday to my partner in crime

happy birthday to my partner in crime! :) i am looking forward to celebrating with you this evening with some good food, dessert, and a movie!

nasty

today was the nastiest day of the year so far.

temperatures were in the mid-80s and humidity must have been in the 80-90% percentile (although accuweather claimed it was 58% somewhere in nyc). for the first day of our second set of nyrr running classes, we jogged up to 102nd street and did 4 x 800m intervals, with 1-2 minutes rest between each. normally it would have been a fun exercise, but today, when we were sweating bullets before the practice even started, it was mildly painful.

kevin wasn't feeling great so he took it easier in group 3 with me! :D it was fun to run in the same group again!

overdue to catch up

one would think that living in manhattan would leave me with more time to do the things i enjoy (and less time doing things like commuting), but only part of that is true. although my commute to work and back is relatively painless (10-15 min each way), i'm still finding myself overdue for many of the things i enjoy, including catching up with girlfriends, body scrubs, pedicures, and facials!

tonight i was able to make one of my favorite activities happen as rose and i met at trestle for a long overdue dinner and catch-up session. we were trying to figure out the last time we actually made plans to hang out, and sadly, neither of us could quite remember! 

it was probably the muggiest day of the year, so we opted for indoor seating, and were greeted by the nicest waiter ever! rose enjoyed a lambrusco, which i learned was a bubbly red (quite tasty!) and i had a gruner. we were on the same page food-wise, and shared everything: yellowtail tartare, chicken liver pate with toast, and seared scallops with asparagus and spring peas! it was a very girly meal :) and we finished off the night with the mint chocolate lava cake with a side of creme fraiche.

when i got home, poor kevin was hovering over our new 6" baby fiddle leaf fig tree, which he had accidentally left on the southern window sill in the morning. too much sun exposure for +12 hours had left the plant so dehydrated that the top half was leaning to one side. we carefully repotted the little guy into a larger planter with fresh potting soil and soaked him thoroughly with water. hopefully he will be feeling and looking better in the morning. fingers x'd!

sleepyhollow lake

today was third and last day in hudson! we decided to drive out to sleepy hollow lake on the west side of the hudson river to do the 8 mile loop around the lake.

sleepy hollow lake refers to both the lake and a co-located residential community in green county, ny. the lake is a 2.5 miles long, 324 acres, 70 ft deep man-made, class A drinking water reservoir for the community. the 2,200 acre surrounding living community is a planned unit development (pud) that self-governs residential land use, maintains common roads, parks, beaches, operates most of the sewer and water services, and provides community security and enforcement.

we started out going east and then north along the east side of the lake and boy was it gorgeous! it was an overcast day (!! yay !!) and it was relatively cool out, though quite muggy. the east side of the lake reminded me of our trip to whistler in august 2012, small homes on the lakeside peering down into the lake (although sleepy hollow lake was not nearly as pretty :p), while the west side of the lake was flatter and felt like we were running through any other suburb.

haha if you zoom into my strava course below, you'll see that i did a little extra loop where we parked our car to hit the 8 mile mark :)

we "checked out" of our guesthouse by 11am and made our way back into town for brunch at le gamin before heading back to the city. the food at le gamin, like many things french, was very delicious! and carefully executed. we were extremely hungry after the run, and didn't leave even a speck of our omelet or savory crepe on the plates. like most things french, beware of the relaxed pace of the service. since we were killing time before grazin' opened (to pick up two LARGE milkshakes for the road), we had time to spare :)

hudson & ghent

we awoke to a crisp, cool Hudson valley morning with temperatures in the 50s. we rediscovered the hidden nooks and crannies that our route led us through, at times working hard to climb the hill to see what was next, and other times just enjoying the motion of free-wheeling downhill. i cock-a-doodle-doo'd to all the cows we saw, and they looked at me with perplexed expressions. 

somewhere in ghent we stumbled upon one of my favorite parts of the ride, where we turned off onto a small country road covered by a canopy of trees. out of the corner of my eye, i saw something moving in the field to my left. it was a deer! we watched her gallop for about 200 meters along our left side behind the trees, until she finally made her way across the path and into the forest to our right. so powerful, yet graceful.

HANDS DOWN BEST BURGER EVER at grazin'! grazin' diner had great reviews on yelp and was highly recommended by our guesthouse, so we gave it a shot. inside the retro 70s diner towards the east end of warren street, we learned that grazin' angus acres (500 acre farm) was started by a couple from new york city in 2002 with a focus on grass-fed and finished blank angus. they use synergistic and thoughtful techniques to produce great tasting and healthy animal proteins, while also restoring the land. their restaurant was started in 2011 with most of the proteins sourced directly from grazin angus acres, employing the highest level of livestock welfare standards. and you can absolutely taste the different in their food.

in addition to the best burger ever, yep, the BEST MILKSHAKE EVER. we tried the vanilla and strawberry, and while both are delicious, their vanilla really stands out. it's made from their homemade organic ice cream so it's actually good for you :p

we did a little self-guided tour at the hawthorne valley farm. kevin loved seeing the massive steaming (literally, bc it was 87F out) piles of sht. we both loved the fact that none of the cows were around because they were out grazing in the pastures to be seen in the distance. it's a nice feeling to see the actual farm and processes in place to grow the vegetables and raise the livestock which we eat. both grazin' angus acres and hawthorne valley farm make it down to the USQ farmers markets each week, so i'm looking forward to supporting them closer to our home and regularly.

fish & game. we spotted this place last year, and on the recommendation of our architect, ayhan, decided to try it out! situated in a pretty high traffic area, zak pellacio's fish & game is quite understated from the outside, windows sealed by curtains and in a restored red brick building. the interiors were completely transformed. it felt like you walked into a a stylish hunting lodge, with taxidermy decorating some of the walls and dark wood panels the others. in the lobby/bar area to the left, there are plush couches and the warmth of a fireplace. in the dining area to the right, there are 14-18 tables with beautiful scandinavian styled seating and comfy booth seating as well. the decor was rustic, but clean and modern. it reminded me of the interiors of noma!

the service was impeccable and we were served a 7 course meal (5 savories + 2 sweet), with 2-year old aged house-made prosciutto and a bottle of cider from vermont. our favorites were definitely the amazing bread, prosciutto, cider, seared mackerel, and egg pasta with offal. and both sweet courses (of course). we learned about the herb, angelica, which was made into a refreshing ice cream! the other courses were tasty, but i think we may have been expecting something a bit lighter in the prime of spring. then again, the restaurant is called fish & game for a reason!

hudson, ny

memorial day weekend didn't start off QUITE as planned as we weren't able to get up in time for a short run. doh. with the extra time, we were able to pack and have a little breakfast without rushing, which was nice. kevin made us his tasty avocado toast on wohle wheat with lemon, and i garnished it with some organic strawberries and raspberries!

for some reason, it's still such a pleasant surprise when spring rolls around and all the springtime-summertime veggies and fruits become plentiful! i can't wait to start roasting beets, summer squash, and other tasty veggies all summer long!

making our way up to hudson, which can be as quick as 2 hours without traffic, we found ourselves sidetracked at woodbury commons on the 87! the premium outlets were relatively quiet when we arrived, though there was heavy construction throughout the shopping plaza as an expansion was planned to launch later this year.

it's been some time since we were last there, and we were both in need of new work attire and some running/hiking stuff, so we did a bit of damage. about $1750 worth of damage, but neither of us shops often and man! the BARGAINS! :D

after a quick lunch at circle-w, we arrived at the willam farmer & sons hotel/boarding house and were welcomed by one of the owners, kristan keck. our wendell lee suite was on the third floor, and we were the only guests staying in that particular building. the room was really nice and cozy, with curated pieces throughout the bedroom, living, and bath, including a beautiful iron bed, two wing chairs, a tivoli radio, and a free-standing clawfoot bath tub. i love places that value good design and decorum!

hudson was originally settled by whalers in the 1600-1700's from nantucket, martha's vineyard, and providence who were looking for a safehaven for their ships. later in the late 1800's to early 1900's, hudson became known as a center for vice, especially prostitution and gambling. that is a whole other story altogether though! 

today hudson has a small town feel with most of its businesses and shops situated along warren street. the streets are littered with buildings with bragging rights going back to the mid-to-late 1800's, but also more and more rehabilitations and renovations. there is just one coffee shop, one boulangerie, one diner, and one ice cream shop along warren street. on the other hand, there are probably over 100 small galleries and antique shops up and down the street.

we strolled around the warren street shops for the rest of the afternoon. some of the shops were new to us, and others were as we remembered and liked. i love the beautiful woodwork by jason roskey at fern ny, especially the detail in his black walnut chair cross bar below. other oldies but goodies included the curated lifestyle home interior shops, hawkins ny and finch, the cheese and other provisions at talbort & arding, and the local ice cream shop, lick hudson.

we finished the night off with dinner at swoon kitchenbar, an understated restaurant next to the ever-popular bbq joint, american glory. we were seated at the bar, just a couple seats down from where we sat last july! in some restaurants, we find it more fun to sit side-by-side, and this is definitely one of them. our server was a cheerful woman who served us a flight of wines before we finally settled on the white from the loire valley and a pbr. we shared the bacon wrapped dates; a roasted beet salad with arugula, goat cheese, and crispy onions; and the soft shell crab with asparagus, potatoes, and a ramp sauce. 

it was all superb, and the vegetables' flavors were extremely crisp and clear. the arugula had a peppery taste to it, something i have not tasted in a while. quoting the nytimes, "it's the perfect preparation for the food to come, which is startlingly fresh and beautifully presented and, despite its sophistication, tastes close to the earth".

we satisfied our sweet tooth with a halva (sesame based) vanilla ice cream cone at lick hudson. 

these are whale-shaped chocolate cocoa cookies at tallbot & arding! so cute.

BIRD IS THE WORD

kevin enlightened me tonight with an episode of family guy that uhm, is AWESOME. haha ... i couldn't stop singing for the rest of the night.

peter: "hm, that's odd, i thought that would be big news"

brian: "what?"

peter: "well there seems to be an absence of a certain ornothological piece, a headline regarding mass awareness of a certain avian variety"

brian: "what are you talking about"

peter: "oh have you not heard? it was my understanding that everyone had heard .."

brian: "heard what?"

stewie: "brian, dont!"

historical seventh ave

recently, we have been working with our condo's board to oversee a renovation for our building's entrance, lobby, and hallways. as a result of some research, we found some pretty interesting images of the neighborhood going back 100 years.

1914: streetcars and horse drawn carriages adorn seventh ave. this photo was taken from the intersection of 23rd street looking up seventh avenue, and on the left side you can see the chelsea mercantile building and on the right side, the chelsea atelier. the chelsea rental building across 24th street has not yet been built, nor many of the other high rise apartment and office buildings which now dominate seventh avenue north of 23rd street. there is an antique-like street lamp at the NE corner of 23rd and seventh.

1915: on september 22, 1915, there was an explosion during construction of the 23rd street subway station that caused the tunnel to collapse. that's our building at the top right corner of the following photo.

1974: american muscle cars fill the paved south-bound avenue. a series of buildings have gone up on both sides of seventh avenue, filling up the manhattan skyline and earning the city its reputation as a city of skyscrapers. the streetlamp at the corner has been replaced by a more modern one.

source: these photos were acquired from the NYPL archives.

trestle on tenth

serendipitous. securing a streetside parking spot for our hertz rental tonight led to dinner at trestle on tenth, a little neighborhood gem which we tried last weekend for brunch. the brunch menu was a bit more unique than traditional american-style brunches, with a number of cured and pickled offerings and european-style entrees, so we have been excited to try out their dinner menu!

we shared the two seasonal dishes - smoked pork soup with chicken, ramps, and green peas, and tagliatelle with asparagus, cockles, and white wine, and a ginormous smoked and roasted pork loin with potato gratin. not generally a fan of large portions of meat appetizers, kevin and i were both pleasantly surprised by the flavorfulness of the pork loin, paired with picked onions.

next time, we'll have to try the lamb-beef burger that was sold out just before we arrived!

pieces falling together

several months ago, we had made plans to stay at the front street guest house for this upcoming memorial day weekend. we received a reminder email about our booking last week and and were looking forward to returning for a few days to hudson, ny, where we spent july 4th last summer. 

up until this tuesday that is.

on tuesday afternoon, i received a call from shannon at the front street guest house, which has been undergoing a major renovation since the beginning of the year, that our suite would not be ready by this weekend. i was upset, but the baby crying in the background tempered my reaction. and as disappointed as i was, i tried to stay calm and not "shoot the messenger". it was her manager's job, after all, to manage the renovation and notify us in a timely manner.

shannon was trying to research other accommodations in the area, but everything in hudson had been booked for the holiday weekend and we were looking at some pretty paltry options. with that said, i had read some nice reviews about the maple sugar suite, though the photos on their website aren't great, and was considering it as an alternative. two other places i would have loved to stay at were the mount merino manor (where we stayed last summer) and the hudson merchant house, but both had been fully booked for many months.

by this evening, i was considering staying in the city for the long weekend, when i received a call back from shannon apologizing for the upheaval and distress caused and assuring us that they have been able to push up the renovations and that our room would be in basic condition for our arrival on saturday! yay! 

not freaking out for once had worked in my favor, and on top of it all, they're comping us :)

the pieces are falling together ...

watermelons & figs

ever have one of those days where one thing after another goes wrong?

i did. these weren't radical life-changing things by any means, i mean, i recognize they are "first world problems", but nevertheless, when summed up, it can weigh down on you.

i wasn't feeling great or having the greatest day, and the weather was naaasty muggy out. it was enough reason for me to miss our last nyrr running class of the ten-class session, and decompress on the couch at the apartment.

after class, i met kevin at our local num pang for their famous pulled pork sando and kev treated us to some watermelon juice. :D it's one of my favorite drinks in taiwan and not that easy to find in nyc. i know i know, i should just pick up some watermelons and make it myself, but the thought of carrying a watermelon back to the apartment is not all that enticing.

also, here is a photo of the latest fig tree i received from hirt's garden! it's a variant of the one i ordered, but it's pretty cute too! the leaves are in the shapes of figs themselves, are green on top and yellow on the underside, and there is actually a small fig growing on the backside of the plant (not visible in this photo). i'll try to figure out exactly which of the +700 types of fig trees this may be and nurture it.

update: apparently it's called a mistletoe fig tree (ficus deltoidea)!

last of the 酒酿

i had been planning to check out tedeschi trucks band performance at central park summerstage tonight, but after three days of muggy weather, i didn't feel like sitting at the park trying to aerate myself, even if it was along to some good tunes.

instead, we went for a short run on the west side highway and did ab work, or what i like to lovingly call "abs crap", at the piers. it's been a while since we've been to the piers on a weeknight and it was bumpin in there! it reminded me of the days of single life when i would find myself at the gym on evenings catching up on sitcoms or the latest and greatest on the food network.

tonight, abs crap consisted of three sets of plank (1 min), bridge (1 min), crunches (24), and jazzercise aka leg lifts to stretch out the IT band (20 each leg). while we were getting ready to leave, we saw a guy doing inverted (upside down) situps holding a 25 lb weight. omg! that sounds brutal, but so cool ~ must try it next time!

for dinner, we paired the leftovers (fried rice, bittermelon, and snap peas) with some fresh dishes (tomato and eggs, roasted taiwanese sausage, and super intense mullet roe). a workout, a variety of favorite homemade dishes, and my hubby ... simple things like this make me very happy!

we finished off the night with the last serving *welps* of my mom's 酒酿 (jiu niang) -- ahhhh!!! time to learn to make some for myself! it's become a staple in this household too :)

nat'l stationary show

we "slept in" this morning and went for a short recovery run on the west side highway when it was way too late and bright out. bahh not my cup of tea, but at least we kept it short.

i spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon helping out at my friend, yuan's, booth, lemon drop papers, at the 2015 national stationary show! this is her fifth year participating in the show and my third year helping out, and i love seeing her all her creative designs and new products coming out each year!

this last year, she's worked especially hard on her drawn designs, which include motifs such as birdhouses, owls, donuts, floral, and mushrooms surface patterns. and similar to previous years, lots of new retailers as well as repeat buyers stopped by the booth to learn more about the product, the process, and we had a couple big orders by the time i left.

i didn't have a chance to walk around and check out the other booths this year, but i'm going to try to find some time on tues afternoon perhaps :)

in the afternoon, i had my friend, kabraham's, daughter's 4 year old princess themed birthday at the greenwich village kidville, and gave her one of yuan's latest card designs! we stopped by just in time to sing happy birthday and watch the little ball of cuteness run around happily with her cousins and friends. wish i took some pics (but i didn't want to be that creepy adult without kids taking photos of other peoples' kids).

bk half marathon PRs

we did it !!! 

we completed the brooklyn half marathon and both pr'd for the course! the bk half has got to be my least favorite race ever, and i think the dislike is heightened by the commercialization of the event as well. these days when the word "brooklyn" is attached, suddenly there is a hipster or low-key edgy-cool vibe associated with it, and suddenly the world wants in. over 26,000 people ran the 13.1 miles today.

but back to it being my least favorite race - it's partly because (i) it's one of the earlier races in the season so by the time it's here, i haven't gotten in more than a 5-8 mile runs in, making the back half of the race that much more painful (ii) the back half of the race is already painful, as it's a 6 mile straight-away down ocean parkway all the way to the finish at coney island.

a relatively flat straight-away should be easier technically than the rolling hills of prospect park during the first half of the race, but it is difficult for the mentally weak, which is why i am always suckered into stopping to walk or use the bathroom multiple times. this time, kev and i ran the first 7-8 miles together, probably me pushing it a little too much in the park, but hey that's my favorite part.

when we got to the straight-away, he left me in the dust and i was out to fend for myself on the vast, open ocean parkway. i tried to use my friend's advice and look at peoples' outfits or count lampposts, but it wasn't helping me. over the years, i had mentally created a six mile monster out of ocean parkway and the best way for me to countdown was counting the streets as they went up from ave h through ave z. during mile 12, i made a quick pitstop at the local honeybucket, and then it started to drizzle! slowly the drizzle turned into a downpour, which i think most people felt refreshed by and used to propel themselves into the finish on the coney island boardwalk.

1:42:11 and 1:43:52 were our official race times! my second sub 1:45 half marathon now! :) next goal: 1:40 !!!

trying out my new neighborhood favorite, trestle on tenth! we pass this place every time we run to the west side highway, but tried it for the first time this afternoon with jess and ben. the menu has a lot of typical american brunch offerings using familiar ingredients such as eggs, bacon, etc, but the chef is originally from switzerland so there is are many notable swiss dishes as well. ben had the green market omelet, jess had the swiss bacon-onion potato hash ("bure rosti"), kev had the three herring plate, and i had the special, baked eggs with ramps, warm yukon gold potatoes, and herbs. we also shared their chicken liver pate which was plentiful and deliiicious. so glad we got to try it with my sis and ben for the first time, and can't wait to come back to this spot again! (and try rocket pig next door - i have a plan for this :D!!!!)

we rested our tired legs for the rest of the day :)

sociale

we grabbed a quick tasty dinner at sociale in brooklyn heights tonight. it's a small italian restaurant at the corner of orange and henry streets, just a couple blocks from the brooklyn waterfront promenade. it was only a quarter full when we arrived at 6:15pm, but the restaurant was totally packed by the time we'd left. despite our expectations for a low key quiet dinner, the restaurant actually felt a bit prim and proper and the service was much more attentive than we'd expected. we shared the burrata salad, and kevin had the lasagne alla bolognese and i had the special of the day, lobster ravioli. the burrata and lasagne were delicious, although i thought the lobster in the ravioli was a little disappointing. i could barely taste the lobster ...

after dinner, we followed the signs and volunteers littered all over brooklyn heights to pick up our race bibs and tshirts at pier 2 of brooklyn bridge park. airbnb had been hosting a three day pre-party and the music was PUMPING!! we got our race bibs - kevin was 3133 and i was five-thousand-something, which meant we were both in the first wave, but different corrals (the lower your bib lower, the faster the corral).

it was a quiet night of gossip girl and relaxing after that so we could get a good night's rest for saturday's race. @_@

spring in boston

due to a highly-anticipated client meeting today, i spent the morning in boston and the city was truly magnificent. temperatures were in the 60s and the sun was shining brightly without a cloud to be seen (poor me). i only wish jess and ben were around to enjoy the gorgeous early days of spring here today, and for my  own selfish reason: to meet me for lunch :D

although i've been to hundreds of client meetings in my twelve years in the business, i still get a little stressed out when preparing for these meetings and feel a little nervous in the days leading up to them. as a research analyst, it's imperative that i have several relevant themes and talking points for each of my meetings. miraculously, clients have generally been happy and satisfied with the preparation and materials, and today was no different. and it's usually after the meeting that i breathe a huge sigh of relief. 

so if this is the case, almost every single time, why it is that i still feel the overwhelming sense of stress and nervousness each time? sigh.

here are a couple sites i passed on my way back to the airport: the boston fed reserve bank building and south station.

i finished off my three hours in boston with a cup of new england clam chowder at legal seafood! so tasty that it can't be good for you :)

in the evening, my first run for the week, a short 3.5 mile shake n bake with kev on the WSH before this weekend's brooklyn half!