the indifferent stars above

after enjoying daniel james brown's writing style (author of the boys in the boat) so thoroughly, i decided to check out another one of his works, the indifferent stars above: the harrowing saga of a donner party bride.

having never heard of the donner party, i was intrigued by the non-fiction narrative of 19th century settlers traveling west. about 30 minutes into the book, i said to kevin "hey, have you heard of the donner party before? i'm reading a book about their journey west". to this, he replied that he was familiar with the donner party, and proceeded to tell me what was a partial spoiler for the book (i'll spare the spoiler here). bummer!

in any case, i continued on with the book, drawn in by the unfortunate series of events which led to the harrowing journey for the donner party through the sierra nevadas in 1846. it was an amazing and eye-opening story, learning about life before the exploration westward, industrial revolution, modern hygiene, and technology. 

it makes me feel so incredibly lucky to be living in the present day.

food52 open house

food52 is a website that my friend, daisy, introduced me to last summer. it's an online community for chefs and food lovers to bond over recipes, video tutorials, and curated kitchenware in an online forum. food52 also features an online shop where you can purchase nice kitchenware and supplies and a blog which i like to read.

tonight food52 hosted its first open house at its brand new offices on 26th street, including a knife-sharpening demo. we sipped on tea-flavored mocktails and enjoyed their white chocolate chip cookies (scrumptious!), while marveling at the beauty of their new offices and kitchenware. two items in particular stood out to me: this bold octopus banya towel and a foldover cross-body wax tote with leather handles (not yet online).

during the brief knife-sharpening demo, i learned a little about the whetstone vs the waterstone. the whetstone, which is never supposed to touch water despite the sound of its name, is used with a special oil to sharpen western knives, which tend to be made of thicker and more heavier duty materials (carbon), whereas the waterstone, used in combination with water, is the preferred sharpening tool for japanese knives.

but above all, i learned that we should be using our knife steel after every use of the knife on a daily basis, in addition to stone sharpening every 1-3 months, depending on frequency of use. our knife steel has sadly been sitting in its drawer for the last nine months, so i guess it's showtime!

no ordinary slap

it's a kimchi slap hahaha .. yes, so juvenile, i admit it! better watch out ...

lobster rolls on the hudson

there is a heat wave in new york city and temperatures are in the 90s, though feeling 5-10 degrees warmer. the city has issued heat and air quality health advisories for the next couple days, but with daisy's mother and brother, jerry, in town, we all mustered up our most positive thoughts and boarded the north river lobster co boat at 6pm with friends - daisy, her mom, jerry, rose, and dustin!

luckily there were intermittent clouds in the afternoon, at times blocking the sun rays out of it eyes and off our bare skin, but still, we found ourselves playing musical chairs on the boat's deck as the boat made its way up the hudson. here is a fabulous photo that rose took of kevin and me going at our respective shrimp po'boy (kev) and lobster roll (jen). as much fun as it was drinking wine and eating shellfish on the deck, i have to admit, the AC in the inner lounge was so much more satisfying :D

all in all, a nice evening getting together with friends on the hudson. and boy, does jerry have THE COOLEST JOB IN THE WORLD!

preludes

sergei rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943) is considered to be one of the world's greatest composers, pianists, and conductors. during the romantic period, rach's compositions were expressive and inventive, influenced by the early works of tchaikovsky and the great five. from what i remember from my childhood, his music is bold, grand, and majestic. my personal connection with rach's music is the final piece in my 14 years of piano study, the rach 3 concerto.

here are a couple of my favorite rach pieces:

prelude opus 3 no 2 in c-sharp minor
performed by vladimir ashkenazy

prelude opus 23 no 2 in b-flat major
performed by vladimir ashkenazy

piano concerto no 3

performed by martha argerich

last night we watched an off-off-broadway show, preludes, by dave malloy at the claire tow theater at lincoln center. preludes is a musical, part fantasia and part reality, which takes place in the mind of sergei rachmaninoff during his three year writer's block and depression following the disastrous premiere of his first symphony. it was a really well-written and directed show, creative and sensual, highlighted by the amazing portrayal of rach by gabriel ebert.

the nytimes summed it up in the opening line of its review: "writer's block turns out to be a lot more inspiring than you could ever have imagined - and sad and stirringly fun."

bike racks & pork larb

kevin and i have five bikes in total. thankfully, two of them, the beater bikes, are currently residing in my parents' garage in holmdel. that leaves us with three bikes, two his and one mine, which we have been shuffling between the office, guest room, and living room.

after moving our beloved 85" r&b reese out of its little nook in the office, we decided that the wall opposite of the door would be a good spot to hang the bikes. i was drooling for the designer knife+saw bike shelf in walnut, but i could not ignore a similar one at cb2 (for 1/6th the price). after a bit of measuring and math, we finally got them up! there's something so empowering about being able to do small home projects together! kevin's bike is above and mine is below.

the third one, a tri bike, is still hanging out in the dining area attached to its trainer. lol. not enough wall space!

for dinner, i wanted to try a dish that my friend, daisy, had raved about making quite regularly on weeknights: pork larb. pork larb is a type of laotian salad which uses ground meat, fish sauce, shallots, and lots of fragrant herbs. i found a few recipes online, and then followed the one which suggested the highest fish sauce+lime juice+herbs ratio to meat. it was quite easy and healthy, as just the shallots are fried and ground pork is cooked through. the other ingredients (cilantro, thai basil, mint, scallions, like juice, fish sauce, and thai chilies), are mixed in by hand afterwards. we wrapped them in butter lettuce leaves, complemented with short-grains white rice. super yummy! thanks dais for the suggestion!

freeman's & the boil

saturday was hot, boiling hot ... and last minute, we decided to get together  with our good friends, will and janet, who live downtown and we sadly haven't seen together since a year ago!

we aimed to meet at the boil (snicker) at 5:30pm, but of course, taxis and trains were delayed, and we didn't meet until closer to 5:45pm, where we were greeted by about 40 some odd people loitering outside the restaurant. we were told we would have to wait 2 hrs. kevin and my stomachs were growling already at 5pm, so i was not sure if we would be able to fight the hanger until 7:45!

luckily we walked a couple blocks north and polished off a few drinks, devils on horseback, and cheddar cheese toast at freemans, while completely entertained and simultaneously distracted with inside stories about broadway and show business from janet, a current MFA student at NYU's tisch school. the restaurant called us 1.5 hrs later (before our expected seating time) and we scurried over to the restaurant happily!

for our first time at the boil, and hopefully not our last, we shared a half dozen oysters, mac n cheese, oyster sliders, combo platter of dungeness crab and crawfish, and a pound of the king crab legs. 

the appetizers were all very good (especially the mac n cheese), but the main show was definitely the the crabs and crawfish, which were seasoned with garlic + butter, lemon, and old bay seasoning. when it was showtime, the waiter dropped two large clear plastic bags of seafood in the center of our table, and armed with bibs and rubber gloves, we went at it - utensils provided, but really not even needed.

highlight of the night is when the male waiter walked over to us holding four plastic bibs in his hands, slowly reaching around kevin's neck to put on the bib, while kevin looked him in the eye warily inching away from the waiter until he had no choice but to surrender his neck. LOL.

i opted for a black tank top that night instead of the silk dress i had been originally thinking of :D basically saying to the waiter - HAND OVER THAT BIB!!!!

free friday :D

took today off originally to go to boston to visit jess and ben, but ended up staying in the city for the weekend. friday off turned out to be very productive with runs to the containerstore (2 trips), bed bath & beyond, and the dry cleaners, as well as posting a few items for sale on craiglist, all before noon!

at 12:30pm, i met my friend yvonne for my first hot yoga class at pure yoga in ... 2-3 years i think. haha ... i was unprepared and out of shape, but it felt amazing and the studio is really nice. it would be a dream to be able to practice 45 minutes of yoga each day, ideally, after a daily morning run, but this thing called index research (aka work) seems to get in the way. ha!

after lunch, a little lunch and girl time at the apartment! we finished +30 dumplings i think :D saved ONE for kevin ...

85" reese sofa for sale

after 3-4 years, we are selling our 85" r&b reese sofa. it has served us well, and kevin especially well, as his most coveted napping spot at nights and on the weekends. before we got married and were living in our separate apartments, i quickly learned that when he went silent from SMS or email, it was safe to assume he'd assumed nap mode on the reese. every single time!

so if anyone is in the market for the 85" r&b reese sofa, it has pretty much no signs of wear and we are listing it for a steal of $850 (original price: $1499+tax).

i just had to have one last photo together on the reese!

princess wang

my sister, jess, and her husband, ben, adopted a kitty this weekend from the animal rescue league! her name is princess and she is a tuxedo cat - white face, chest, and paws.

haha in the pic below, my sis is "torturing" princess as she's trying to rest by putting random objects on her head. and she wonders why princess wakes them up at 4am in the morning :p

the boys in the boat

i just completed one of the best books i've read in a while, the boys in the boat, a non-fiction narrative by daniel james brown. recommended by my friend rose, the writing style and underlying themes are reminiscent of laura hillenbrand's unbroken, one of my all-time favorite books/authors. 

both books are based on events which took place in the 1920-30s, although the boys in the boat focuses on the rise of the nazi militia while unbroken focuses on the battles in the the pacific. both books are written from the perspective of the protagonist, who incidentally both make it to the 1936 olympics in berlin, germany. both books captured my undivided attention and made it difficult for me to lift my eyes from the pages, the writing so descriptive that i felt like i was watching the poughkeepsie regatta from the eastern bank of the hudson river.

marist college did a great job archiving the history of crew and i managed to find the program and results from the 1936 poughkeepsie regatta where washington swept the freshman 2 mile, jv 3 mile, and varsity 4 mile races! what an incredible year ...

i've never seen a crew race before, but now i can't wait to see a regatta!

so bummed

feeling so bummed ...

after some more in depth research online, i learned that the milford track is a bit too dangerous to hike in the off season when we'll be visiting new zealand. i'm adventurous, but the thought of losing my life (or kevin's) to an avalanche or icy river is not worth it.

at times like this, i wish i had something/someone to blame, but i know inside it's just the luck of the draw. but whyyy ... and what are the chances of actually going back?

i know i know, #firstworldproblem, but still i feel like sulking for a bit. big sadface ...

last day in nofo

we took our time getting up and ready this morning since it was 90F outside and felt like 90% humidity! basically trying to kill time until the north fork table & inn food truck opened at 11:30am, we picked up breakfast sandwiches at fork & anchor, a cute little general store in east marion, and drove to the eastern most point, the town of orient, on the north fork. on our way to lunch, we stopped by a lavender farm for the first time! can't believe how beautiful and fragrant it is! 

and one last vineyard to finish off the trip ~ bedell cellars. it was probably the loveliest of the three we visited over the weekend, with artwork adorning all the walls of the winery. we also thought the wines were very good, and noticeably pricier.

a last stop at briermere farms for some blueberry cream pie and fresh blueberry juice and we were back on the road! no more stops after that ... it was TOO HOT!!!

it was a really fun relaxing weekend exploring new towns and shops with the girls! the heat made me a little crazy out there, but the great food and wine, and memories we'll have for the years to come make it so worth it!

back in the city, i had a hankering for asian food, and we had two gallons of kimchi fermenting in our refrigerator, so we made kimchi bokkeumbap! the ingredients are simple and usually already lying around the house so it's great for a last minute meal ~ rice, kimchi, gochujang, toasted seaweed and sesame seeds, egg, and scallion, to taste!

farms, food, & fun

three hungry impatient girls arrived at harbes family farm & vineyards in the late morning. the glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade was not enough to tide them over until lunch, and the great wait began for the grilled mexican corn stand to open. han and daisy giving us a little preview below :)

we found temporary satisfaction in the spicy habanero and spicy wasabi pickles from pickle me pete. they were DELICIOUS, though difficult to attain as they're mainly sold in long island or LIC.

for lunch, we arrived somewhat stuffed from the grilled corn and pickles in the morning. but continue to pile on the lunch orders at the frisky oyster. you can't tell in this photo, but it was 95F, sunny, and absolutely breeze-less. the pale ale wheat beers were our saviors.

in the afternoon, we tasted some wines at pellegrini vineyards, where our friends yuan and brian were married many years ago! i wasn't at their wedding, so it was nice to imagine their special day set on this beautiful property. i've actually never experienced a vineyard wedding! i want to!!!

and finally, we had the most amazing cookies and cream and mochi chip ice cream at the magic fountain. double scoops for all!

north fork long wkd

we kicked off our north fork long weekend girls trip at 8:30am this morning! as we headed out of the city, the sky started to turn dark and ominous and the storm clouds from hell appeared, pounding us with heavy rain for the first half of our drive. it was actually a bit scary how heavy the rain was and at times, especially when other cars were splashing water ahead of us, it was difficult to see.

we made it to mattituck with no problem though and stuffed ourselves with breakfast at love lane kitchen. love lane itself sounds adorable, but actually there weren't too many interesting shops to visit. haha. the highlight of the day was visiting the macari winery & vineyard, where we tasted two flights of their local wines, and munched on delicious truffle chips with a bottle of their sauvignon blanc on the covered deck. we also did a little barrel sitting haha.

in the afternoon, we checked into our lovely airbnb cottage on breakwater road. the place was really cute, situated at the end of a gravel-dirt road tucked behind a larger house. there was a small pond, lots of trees, verdant greenery, and grass surrounding our cottage, which was decorated in a minimalist scandi style which I LOVE!!

after one of han's long naps (a theme on the trip ha), we ventured out to the nork fork table & inn for one of the tastiest dinners i have ever had! han and daisy both ordered the peconic bay fluke crudo for their first course and the pan-seared long island duck for their main course, while i opted for the gem lettuce, roasted beets, and hazelnut salad and the pan-seared tilefish. the duck was definitely the tastiest item on the menu! additionally, both courses came with carefully selected wine pairings, which was a nice touch. the dessert, coconut tapioca with passion fruit sorbet and a crispy coconut wafer was the final touch. 

i was totally stuffed, but somehow, we all continued to oggle at the dessert menu and ordered a half dozen chocolate chip and oatmeal raison cookies for the road :)

belated wedding gift

my close friends from asia, liz & tom, were married in february 2014. sadly, we weren't able to attend their wedding in hong kong, but i knew i wanted to get them something special.

for asian weddings that we attend, we tend to give monetary gifts, which is the most widely-received and anticipated gifts amongst asians. however, for weddings that we aren't able to attend, i find myself being more creative with gifting ideas.

for liz and tom, recent newlyweds and avid hikers in hong kong, we thought the perfect gift would be light arcteryx backpacks with camelbak hydration packs. each backpack is designed with ultra lightweight material, hydration reservoir, and hose with mouthpiece, so you don't have to use your hands to access a waterbottle.

and a rifle paper co card, belated, to go along, as it's one of their favorite design companies.

looks like we got lucky and scored the right gift for them :) liz and tom receive the gift last night and she text me right away! apparently they had been thinking about getting similar packs for a little while now.

the everything store

today was amazon's 20th anniversary and they celebrated by launching an inaugural  "amazon prime day", a day where prime members could purchase select goods at steep discounts. while the deeply discounted products on amazon prime day were generally unappealing to most of the people i spoke with at the office and skewered by customers on twitter and facebook, amazon's daily sales were up around 80% by noon, as compared with a year earlier. shocking!

in honor of amazon's first prime day, i thought it was also overdue for a review of the everything store, brad stone's tell-all tale about the online retailer which started out in a garage (surprise surprise) in the then quiet little city of seattle.

this "biography" about jeff bezos and his company, amazon, is interesting, because it wasn't a sanctioned book by bezos, nor was he interviewed for this book in particular. the author, however, is very knowledgeable about the tech industry and mentions his various writing careers at the nytimes and bloomberg businessweek.

without giving away too much, in this book, stone goes into great detail about bezos's childhood, and draws many parallels with that of steve jobs, another silicon valley figurehead. he then 

kansas chairs

welcome home!

after eight months of window shopping and a couple month hiatus from decorating, we have finally selected and accepted delivery for new dining table chairs. prior, we had been using four room & board soren chairs with a charcoal stain, which i purchased to go with my saarinen-inspired marble tulip table in our last apartment, but we both agreed that the new dining table needed something new.

the chairs we decided on are the kansas chairs in american walnut and brown belt leather seats from organic modernism. visually, they make the dining area feel a bit more spacious as they tuck in nicely under the table. i like the soft leather seating, a cushion for your toosh, and the little moose impression on each chair back.

slowly, but surely, getting there ...

polka dot plant

say hello to our 2" polka dot plant (hypoestes phyllostachya)! through a little digging online, i finally found the name of the little guy that we picked up at the sill over the weekend. let's see what a little indirect sunshine and spritzing will do for this fella.

dumpling night

avocados + organic multigrain bread + lemon = avocado toast.

wimbledon + calligraphy. saw a friend in the front row behind djokovic (!!).

排骨飯 (porkchop) and 鹽酥雞 (fried chicken) over rice at taiwan bear house. finally, a taiwanese cafe with some of our favorite bentos. definitely going back!

picked up a few new additions for our nursery: wheatgrass, schefflera arbicola, and one other whom's name i haven't found yet.

all hands on deck for dumpling night! a much needed get together with jay and kathy for a night of cooking and catching up together. note to self: must visit normandy!

2-gallons of kimchee go into the closet. learned that kevin's hands are too big to fit through mouth of jar. looking forward to checking up on these guys in two days!

through the looking glass

my childhood friend, julia, was in town from the west coast this week and so we spent the day together, starting with brunch with terri at brucie in brooklyn heights. in the afternoon, we trekked to the UES and i finally got to see the met exhibit, china: through the looking glass.

the exhibit was truly magnificent, and it was clear how influential chinese culture was in the evolution of fashion design around the world. one large part of the exhibit included an original work (often times dating back to the late 1700s) and a more recent design resulting from its inspiration. i included a few of the most memorable pieces below, including the grand finale: a gown inspired by buddhism by guo pei.

for dinner, we checked out a new neighborhood spot, co. the weather had cooled down and we enjoyed outdoor seating and a really tasty dinner! we shared the roasted beet salad, cannellini bean toast, chicken liver toast, and two delicious pies: stracciatella and boscaiola. it was all really delicious and the service was great. drives on eighth avenue, however, were a little bit crazy!

his & hers

happy friday!

these are our personalized coke bottles, courtesy of my friend, yvonne :D i told kevin we cannot drink these under any circumstances!!! 

but now every time i see them, i want to crack one open and drink the goods ...

calligraphy 101

practice makes perfect!

this is probably the greatest lesson i learned tonight at the 14th street paper source intro to calligraphy class taught by christina grace. with eight of us huddled around a high-top in the back of the store, christina taught us some of the basics of traditional vs informal calligraphy, and we spent the next two hours practicing our strokes. 

we also learned how to use heat embossing powder and envelope liners, which i fell in love with! the liners really make the envelope pop when you open them, and there is something magical when you see the powder transform into the raised sparkly impression.

at the end of the night, with the rest of the girls, i bought my own set :D

delayed indefinitely

lots of system failures and technical "glitches" today, and i got royally screwed. 

it started our 7am flight out of o'hare to laguardia. we got through security by 5:50am and boarded the plan around 6:35am, though due to some sort of unexplainable technical or mechanical failure, were asked to deplane after 45 minutes, and told that there was no expected time frame for departure again. turns out that there was some sort of nationwide system failure for all of united airlines, so we were stuck at the gate and didn't end up taking off until 10:45am.

when we landed at laguardia around 1:30pm local time, we learned that the nyse also experienced a technical glitch and all nyse trading went down at 11:51am. we later learned that wsj.com also went down for a little while. not sure if any of these are related, but it caused work to be a mess with lots of client inquiries and confusion around closing market mechanisms and prices to be used by the indices tonight.

garrett's popcorn was the little highlight of my long long day :)

take me out to the ballgame

quick trip to chicago for a day of client meetings and our company's annual cubs game client outing! the weather was 30 degrees colder this year than the last few, hitting lows of 55F tonight. brrr ...

also, the stadium recently installed three massive jumbotrons that were in discussions just last summer. they block the views from many of the houses and rooftops across the street, but we managed to secure one in the left outfield which still have a really amazing view!

best of all, cubs beat the cardinals in a pretty fun game, 5-2!