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. @_@

smorgasburg

another gorgeous cool day without a cloud in the sky, and like clockwork, i was up before 7am this morning. i don't know why this happens to me on the weekends in the spring and summer, because as soon as the weekdays roll around, i have serious problems waking up for work!

as soon as kevin left for his run, simon woke up and nursed his hangover after a late night of partying, and i spent the morning baking a new batch of granola (with pistachios and blueberries!) and prepping some of the ingredients for dinner that night. for the last few months, i've felt sluggish, sick, and jetlagged, but finally, this weekend i felt more like myself again.

as we waited for simon to get ready, i took a short walk to the floral district and brought home some new succulent critters!

around 1pm, we made our way over to smorgasburg in brooklyn heights. having eaten just a half cup's worth of rice porridge that morning, i was ready to buckle over from hunger, so we got maine style lobster rolls from luke's, the very first booth we saw. hahaha ... it was so so tasty! don't think i've had lobster since last may in maine. we also had deep fried anchovies from bonchovi, cookies n cream organic from ice cream from blue marble ice cream, chicken parm sliders from sunday gravy, and my FAVORITE, maple lemonade and butternut squash sugar donut from rockville market farm.

and after what seems like a week of eating out, finally an easy dinner for two :)

girltime in billyburg

on one of the coldest and windiest days of the year (4F-25F), and in spite of the construction and closures of multiple subway lines, three manhattan troopers made their way down to union square station and made their way into brooklyn for a cozy brunch in east williamsburg. these troopers were daisy, mae, and jen (me).

bundled up in our uggs (three shades: black, grey, and chestnut), hooded winter coats, and gloves, we forged through the icy streets of brooklyn to arrive at okonomi with a table that had just been cleared. yay! we were being rewarded for our perseverance :p

it was the usual staff, though the fish offerings were different. today we were offered fat pieces of big-eye tuna, mackerel, and perch, and we ordered all three, along with the whitefish sashimi with yusco and the brown rice with katsuobushi, uni, and onsen tamago. as usual, the meal was DELICIOUS! i wish i could prepare and have this food daily ... i guess i "could" and maybe i will try it one of these days (note to self: learn to make onsen tamago!). the conversation was fun and light-hearted and i wish we could have stayed longer but there was a line of people waiting for our table ~ girl bonding time :)

and speaking of hearts ..

after lunch, we treated ourselves to sweets at bakeri on wythe and north 8th. i got the rosemary hazlenut chocolate chip cookie and peanut chocolate chip cookie. both flavors were pretty interesting, and i liked the whole peanuts in the PB cookies.

next time, we'll have to try a place in greenpoint together!

a year older

today was my birthday! :) 

and kevin spoiled me rotten, starting with this adorable bloomberg message. apparently he had to keep resending and retracting it because i didn't see it and he wanted to make sure it was on the top of my bloomberg messages. those donut flags are actually dynamic and the donuts get gobbled up over a 5-second cycle. it's the little things, right?

the day flew by and +175 facebook birthday posts later, we were on way our to the river cafe on the brooklyn promenade for dinner. the restaurant is seating right along the east river almost directly under the brooklyn bridge. you couldn't ask for a more amazing view of the water and lower manhattan skyline.

what stood out to me was the quality of service, cute and extensive style of dishwares, modern preparation and presentation of some traditional dishes, and how the place could completely fill up on a night as chilly (10F) as last night! to start, we had the pear salad and grilled octopus. for our entrees, kevin had the rack of lamb and i had the branzino. i was expecting a whole fish, but it was a beautiful filet with a roasted tomato on the side - this is difficult to describe - the tomato skin had been torched such that the it had become a crispy sculpture on top of the tomato! for dessert, we had the apple gallette and chocolate souffle. kudos to the chefs!

and when we got home, kevin gave me a little gift to help me get educated and started on bringing the outdoors inside our little apato :) apparently he learned about thesill.com from the blogs listed on my blog. LOL. i didn't think he paid any attention to this ... 

anyways can't wait to visit the sill and get my fiddle leaf fig tree!

ps. surprise #2, we've got the http://www.inourloft.com url! :) thank you!

marathon day!

temperatures dropped and wind speeds heightened on sunday, november 2, just in time for the nyc marathon! kevin, gary, and i were up by 5:15 for our pre-race breakfast routine: murray's raisin bagels, peanut butter, and bananas. we were out the door by 5:50 and boarded the 6:15 staten island ferry with thousands of other runners. 

it was so exciting to be with a group of strangers, knowing that everyone around you has been doing similar training for months all around the world in pursuit of a common goal - it's thrilling! the runners came in all shapes, sizes, ages, and nationalities. it's quite likely that we've run among or passed by these runners along the west side highway, at central park, or during races.

after docking, we boarded a short minute bus ride to take us to the start village. "start village" turned out to be more of a "hobo village". imagine +50,000 runners sprawled across fort wadsworth park grabbing every plastic bag, cardboard, and styrofoam around to try to stay warm in the 39F weather. we arrived at 7:08 and weren't scheduled to start until 10:05.

kevin wore a $14.99 blue puffy coat that he bought across the street the previous night and a pair of sweats. gary wore a sweatshirt and sweat pants. i wore two long-sleeve cotton shirts and a pair of sweat pants. we all had beanies on, but it was not enough - it was SO DARN COLD. dunkin donuts had a table with coffee, which was surrounded by hoards of cold hungry athletes. they also gave out fleece beanies which was really nice of them. i brought bubble wrap from our packing boxes for us to sit on, which turned out to be AMAZING as it kept our bottoms warm, and i ended up stuff it inside my top as well. 

note to self: bubble wrap is AWESOME insulation!

oh yea, we saw a lot of interesting moments during our THREE our wait. we saw a group of italians hold a little picnic with bread, butter, jelly, drinks, etc. we saw the same group of italians singing to keep their spirits up. one of them tried to take our bubble wrap - not cool lol. and we saw lots of athletes shivering and curled up in strange forms trying to retain as much body heat as possible.

finally 10:05 rolled around and we were getting into our corrals and people started stripping. off came the pants, the hats, the jackets, and lastly, the bubble wrap :) all the clothing would be donated to goodwill. and finally, the corrals collapsed and we were led to the start line which was at the beginning of the verrazano bridge. the sun started peeking out from behind the clouds at this point, my spirits were lifted at the prospect of finally moving, and we were off! :)

the race course was technically not too challenging since new york city is relatively flat, but there were a couple areas which we were warned about: the verrazano bridge (mile 1), the queensboro bridge (mile 16), and carnegie hill (miles 22). as it turns out, there were so many people on the course, we couldn't actually ever see any of the climbs which was enormously helpful mentally.

some highlights (ok, this ended up being more of my own post race analysis):

• queensboro bridge: it was SO DARN WINDY!!! haha ... kevin and i had trouble just going straight and staying upright as gusts of wind came from the northwest. we saw countless pieces of disposable clothing and tarp fly right across our eyes over the bridge. the helicopters were nowhere nearby thank goodness (i had envisioned choppers hovering around the bridge and like an action movie, was afraid i'd have the urge to jump off the bridge and hang onto the helicopter, climb up to the cockpit, and take out the pilot :p).
• brooklyn: talk about CROWDS and MUSIC!!!! there were crowds lining the ENTIRE course (with the exception of the predominantly hasidic jewish areas where it was uncomfortably silent) and there were live bands performing every few blocks - thank you daisy & bram for coming out to support! it was so much fun and a pleasant distraction to look at all the spectators, their signs, outfits, the storefronts, and countdown the streets as we ran along third and fourth ave towards the williamsburgh savings bank in the distance.
• williamsburg: a smile lit my face as we turned onto bedford ave, as i knew it would ultimately lead us to pass our old pad on grand avenue! the course got much narrower at this point, which made it difficult to continue at our original 8:30 pace. in addition, there were water stations around every mile marker in which people would stop to drink water and not always stay out of the center of the course, slowing down the race in general. regardless, it was so much fun :) i think i was starting to understand why people run the ny marathon, over, and over.
• greenpoint/queens: mile 13.5 was the point where our friends, emily and cuong, were going to be cheering! i've never had anyone come cheer (especially not my own parents haha) so i was super excited :) unfortunately we didn't coordinate exactly where at mile 13.5 so we didn't end up finding each other. darn. it was still very cool to cross the pulaski bridge though - onto QUEENS and halfway done with this thing!
• queensboro bridge: the queens portion of the race was only a couple miles long, and in the corner of my eye was the queensboro bridge. we owned it when we practice our queensboro bridge repeats, but how would we fare today? we took the pace down a couple notches and breezed across the bridge. i think we both wanted to make sure that we had enough in the tank left for the second half, and personally, i needed to make sure i could get to mile 20, and i thought the last six wouldn't be too much of an issue.
• upper east side: we thought brooklyn and queens crowds were amazing, manhattan right when you come off the 59th st bridge was off the hook! mountains of people screaming their lungs out for you, strangers to them, pushing you along with their smiles, shouts, and funny signs. this race would be over before we knew it ... still no sign of powergels yet though!
• bronx: taiko drums! we crossed the willis avenue bridge into the bronx and the 138 east madison avenue bridge back into manhattan and were greeted by japanese taiko drummers! it was sooooo cool. powergels and bananas were handed out around mile 19 finally and i grabbed three. kevin wasn't feeling great during most of the race, and couldn't hold it in any longer, so he told me to go ahead while he beelined for a porta-john.
• manhattan: the last 4-5 miles were really nice. i think because we had taken it slower earlier, i was feeling energized and not totally spent, and tried to pick up the pace for the rest of the race. the most exciting part? probably when we turned into the park around 90th st. this was our turf, our park, the place we had shed our blood sweat tears and wedding vows. i knew it like the back of hand .. unfortunately i also knew there would be a slight uphill in the last 400 meters going into the finish line. that was a little tough ha, but it felt great to finish! 3:51:09

the rest - medals, recovery bag, space blanket, windproof fleece-lined cloak, 72nd st 1-train, awesome sports massage at ohm spa (thank you liz & tom!), and one of THE BEST DINNERS EVER afterwards at hill country with college friends. hill country is a lady's best friend - the guys do the ordering of the food, the pouring of the beers, and there are no dishes to do afterwards. all i had to do was sit and enjoy wonderful company - couldn't have asked for a better way to finish off the night.

today just reaffirms my anticipation for more training and the 2015 nyc marathon :) bring it!!!

best: moist brisket at hill country, obviously :)

worst: 3 hrs at hobo village. next yr im bringing more bubble wrap and wearing two layers of pants!

smile: emily and logan! you guys made my day with your sign. thank you so much! i cannot believe you were out there in the cold!

home sweet home!

despite feeling a little sad about leaving brooklyn and wistful about our impending separation with our lovely neighborhood, i couldn't sleep well at all last night! i had a few dreams, which i forgot shortly after awaking, but most of all, i was EXCITED to move into our new home together :)

it's MOVING DAY! but a fun moving day because we had just 3-4 bags each which were 99% packed last night. i enjoyed seeing lizzie & michael's apartment one last night sans all our crap lying around, organized, and neat, took a few photos of our october home, before closing the door behind us and that chapter of our lives.

we ubered to chelsea and did a quick walk through of the apartment. still no bathroom vanities! haha ... but 95% of the construction materials and equipment had been removed, and the floor protection throughout the apartment was removed. the blue protection on the cabinets were all removed and our kitchen started to look like home. i can't wait to unpack our cutting board, pots, and pans, and cooking ingredients, and start making a huge batch of stock, braised beef, stir fry some veggies, and steam our japanese short-grain rice.

staycation was very nice, and it kept me distracted from realizing how much i missed our belongings and our kitchen routines :)

friday @ work = BLUR. it was sheer madness from 730am until 630pm, thank goodness i picked up a doughnut plant pbj donut, breakfast of champions! every index provider made announcements multiple times throughout the day and there were a number of spin-offs and a russell monthly rebalance on top of it all. i think the anticipation of going back to our new home kept me excited and focused, and i was able to maintain relatively humored about the action-packed day.

kevin made it home before me for a change, and we were pleasantly surprised with a gorgeous arrangement or welcome home flowers (stunning birds of paradise!) from our contractor and a six pack in the fridge. well, half of a six pack in the fridge. 

we spent the next few hours vacuuming, unpacking boxes, and i started to put our life back together one cupboard at a time. we skyped with my parents and jess&ben, and celebrated our first night in the new place with kimchi jijimi, sul lung tang, and kimchi fried rice delivery. i think we'd unpacked just 15 or so boxes that night and the place was still covered in dust, but it's a start.


finally, home sweet home begins!

best: sleeping in our own bed with our own pillows! :)

worst: busy month end fridays! and daisy reminded me that november will also have a month-end friday. boo!!!!

smile: im pretty sure our contractor mike got a kick out of drinking beers and leaving the leftovers in our fridge. lol. we've had a great experience with these guys and i couldn't be more pleased with the construction process and quality. how often can you say THAT about your contractor?

last night in brooklyn

thursday started off on the right foot (and not because i'm a righty :p) as i arrived to midtown 15 minutes early and decided, what the heck - let's treat the guys on the desk to some maison kayser pastries. it was my first time to MK on a weekday morning and i picked up a dozen pliets, pain au chocolat, and almond croissants. they were gone within minutes of arriving at the desk :)

the rest of the day was a blur as the indices ripped me a new one, but there was one shining light! i interviewed a third candidate who had a good amount of experience in index work and was also very sweet and candid. she also left a very good impression on my boss, which is a good sign. since we have only spoken with a few candidates at this point, i think we will speak to a few more and then hopefully make a decision we're both comfortable with.

after work, kevin and i made our way over to the jacob javitts center where we picked up our bibs for both races this weekend: nyrr dash to the finish 5k and nyrr marathon 26.2. the place was PACKED with all types of runners, different shapes and sizes, from all over the world. it's pretty exciting! also asics, paragon, powergel, newtons, skechers - all the big guns had booths and people were trying on and buying up anything they could get their hands on with "TCS marathon 2014" embroidered on it. kevin and i did not participate ... but we did receive two long-sleeve tech shirts for these races. yay :)

then we took the L towards brooklyn, for probably the last time in a while, getting off at lorimer station for one last visit to okonomi's for its weeknight moonshine: yuji's ramen! we were lucky to be seated immediately at the bar and ordered the barley tea, boston mackerel sashimi, braised squash, and two types of ramen with onsen tamagos: one with a monkfish liver base and the other with a pork broth. the former was heavier with a stronger flavor, while the latter was a pure broth and very light. i think both were filling, but a little underwhelming, so we will probably stick with okonomi's weekend breakfast menu going forward. we picked up cereal milk soft-serve with cereal flakes on the way home.

it's really been a nice staycation in williamsburg and i will miss it!

best: a relatively quick pack and cleanup at the apartment after dinner because we got started with the vacuuming the night before. splitting up the tasks made it more pleasant and easier.

worst: getting caught in cold weather. :/ unprepared for the cold weather, i donned a silk long-sleeve dress with my fur vest, a blazer, and birkenstocks. eek! it was an especially long, cold walk to and from the jacob javitts.

smile: the asics salesperson at the expo KNEW what she was talking about! she knew all about the different models and their heel drops. this type of passion makes me happy.

little moments

today was cold and raining cats-and-dogs! a series of little moments throughout the day brightened my mood though :)

started off the morning with a little love: an 8 oz white moustache homemade yogurt in the kiss with orange blossom honey & walnuts. at first i was a little confused because when i mixed the yogurt, i didn't see any honey or walnuts, but when i put the first spoonful to my lips, i tasted the subtle flavors of a orange blossoms with little morsels of walnuts. it was heavenly!!! also a greek yogurt, the consistency of the white moustache was much creamier and luxurious than siggi's, fage, or chobani. and it tasted extremely fresh, similar to the yogurt my mom makes at home with homegrown bacteria cultures (but hers is watery, which i don't care for much). despite the 8 oz size, i finished the entire serving without a hitch and as a little bonus, i was left with a cute glass jar which i can't wait to repurpose!

the only thing that makes me wonder is what are the nutritional facts for this product? as i researched the product online, i learned that it's a small father-and-daughter business based in brooklyn, but no nutritional facts on their company website either. what makes this thing so creamy and delicious?

the white moustache homemade yogurt: kiss

at the apartment, today the stone guy and the backsplash guy came! here is a photo of our waterfall island and kitchen countertops. one of my favorite details is the mitered joint where the vertical and horizontal stone pieces meet. so pretty.

i'm still deciding between backsplash colors (eggshell white, lace white, or polar white? reminds me of american psycho hahaha) and the leadtime is 5-10 days so that will take a bit longer. i am getting excited for hotpot gatherings in the winter!

waterfall island

then i was off to dinner with monica and sonam at toro! in the pouring rain, i managed to bus one block, train one stop, and walk one block. lol. thank goodness for the unlimited metro card! saw that a sorel shop is opening on w14th st by ninth ave. yay! they make the best boots for the winter! i love my sorel joan of arcs - they totally saved me through the rain, snow, ice, and slush of last winter.

also found these adorable rice bowls at anthropologie that i want to get. check out the colors and designs! i want like 10 of each :/ but that is not practical ..

sorel on w14th st

anthropologie finds

dinner at toro was lovely! this is how it looked when i arrived ... it was completely packed and every table was full by the time we left three hours later! for monica and sonam, i think it was rare to get a night off so it was nice to get out with them. it's the first time we've managed to get out without the husbands and boy is the conversation different. food-wise, almost everything we ordered was delicious! we had the pan con tomate, tortilla espanola, and pimientos del padron for starters. and then we ventured into some of the slightly larger tapa dishes, including sausage with chickpeas, galician octopus, patatas bravas, hamburguesas (dry aged), and grilled corn with aioli. it was all superbly done - especially the three pinchos. my one complaint was the grilled corn, basically mexican corn, had waaaay too much butter and mayo on it. oh and for dessert, we had a chocolate ganache cake with crushed peanuts and sea salt with a side of olive oil ice cream. a great way to end the night before stepping back out into the unforgiving rain.

toro

best: spontaneous walk with my gf, daisy, to our go-to-spot, diginn, on 40th and madison for a spicy meatball lunch. it was the only time of the day where it wasn't raining and it's always nice to catch up after the weekend. it's become a weekly ritual!

worst: not wearing tights or pantyhose today. it was so cold and the rain was coming down sideways today. really looking forward to having all our stuff again after we move in next friday, though not looking forward to unpacking after 1.5 months. who can remember what's in those boxes at this point ...

smile: monica made me smile big time over dinner with her stories about her boys. her 10 and 15 yr old boys dislike getting shots at the doctor's office and have broken down at appointments begging not to have to take the shots. after the appointment, andrei, the younger one, bragged to me that he got 4 shots and his older brother, sasha, only got 2! shots apparently give you bragging rights - they crack me up. shots are inevitable. i don't look forward to getting shots, but their inevitable so i just look away and wince ... luckily it's usually over in 5-10 seconds or so.

clean bill of health

today we had a health fair at the office and everyone on the desk went to get certain biometrics checked, as well as flu shots. biometrics taken included total cholesterol, HDL (good cholesterol), LDL (bad cholesterol), triglycerides (fatty acids), glucose (blood sugar), blood pressure, body mass index (weight to height assessment), and body composition (muscle to fat ratio).

i think most of the guys on our desk did pretty poorly (although for the most part, only one of them appears to be obese), and everyone was trying to get information from each other, without giving up their own results. jokes were flying left and right so i decided i'd give it a shot and get my health assessed.

i was a little nervous at first because we had a desk lunch print of expensive greasy chinese food from shunlee and i had topped it off with a few kitkat bars for dessert. miraculously, my glucose level was still in the optimal range. in fact, i cleared every single category in either the "optimal" or "off-the-charts optimal" range, and my analyst and i were the only ones on the desk to qualify as "athlete" range for the body composition.

i wonder how the results compare with previous years ... i'll have to dig around to see if i can find my 2013 results. the only assessment i didn't get a chance to do was the bone density, which would actually be interesting since women are at a higher risk for osteoporosis. but given the fact that 90% of bone density in females is amassed by the age of 20, it's probably too late to do anything about it now anyways :p

we had a quiet night which consisted of 7.5 miles of fartleks down my new favorite route along kent down to the brooklyn bridge park and a lasagna dinner at the apartment accompanied by a few episodes of 30 rock. i love tina fey and alex baldwin is pretty funny too!

7.5 miles of fartleks

best: leftover lasagna + broccoli + 30 rock after a long day/run. our lasagna is actually pretty healthy! aside from the cheese, it's tomatoes, carrots, celery, grass-fed beef, and noodles. and it totally hits the spot ...

worst: lost my pebble+ step counter so the walkertracker office challenge is officially over for me. bummer. at least i can stop annoying kevin and all my friends with all the crazy talk ha!

smile: a duane reade pharmacist served me with a smile today :) yep that made my day!

tech eggs

facebook and apple will cover up to $20k in egg freezing expenses? i think it's great to offer women this option, although the way it's been publicized is a little too glib for my taste. and for people that have been bashing the new option that facebook and apple female employees will have, i think you're going a little too far as well.

it's great and i applaud these tech companies to be amongst the first that i've heard at this point to offer this benefit for is existing female employees and to attract future talent. i think the announcement does need to be taken with a gain of salt, however, as there are risks for pregnancies at a later age. it's definitely a step in the right direction though!

here's an interesting nytimes view on it and the comments section is especially interesting: http://nyti.ms/1DaC0Nl

with that said, wednesday was otherwise not too eventful. after work drinks at parker & quinn for my analyst, peter, who is heading back to the bahamas to work for his father's fund, and dinner at extra fancy, a cute looking restaurant which fancies itself on its raw bar and cocktails. while the restaurant interior was very nicely done - dimly lit for ambiance, lots of people and music for a positive vibe, great looking bar and seaside-shack feeling decor overall, i thought the food was just average.

we ordered a dozen east and west coast oysters, which were tasty, but nothing compared to maison premiere, as well as the cornbread, ipswich clam slider, portuguese kale soup, and grilled shrimp & mussell perlou, with a glass of white wine. the soup was probably the tastiest part - the perlou looked delicious and contained potentially delicious ingredients (shrimp, mussels, sausage, fried egg, rice), but to be honest it was just satisfactory. the slider was tasty (on a hawaiian roll with pickles yum!), but the clam was fried so it could have been a french fries in between the buns and i wouldn't have known the difference. overall extra fancy seems like a fun place if you've got a rowdy group of friends, but for a tasty dinner for two, we probably won't be going back.

after dinner, got sorely caught in a deluge of rain and after five minutes of scrambling in the downpour, high-maintenance me requested a taxi to get back to the apartment. yes, we cabbed within williamsburg - i know it sounds silly, but i was SO tired.

west and east coast oysters, geographically placed

grilled shrimp and mussell perlou

best: is there anything good about muggy warm days in the middle of fall? jk. i'll try to turn something negative into something positive. had a surprisingly fun time getting drinks with the team!

worst: random muggy warm days in the middle of the fall! what's going on today? it's 70-73F and 85% humidity. walk outside and you'll automatically need a shower. definitely going to put a damper (haha no pun intended) on the walkertracker challenge :D

smile: heard that a close male friend has been in a relationship for a couple months now! :) i can't say who it is right now, but i am very glad to hear it. and looking forward to meeting her in the near future!

death with dignity

on january 1, 2014, a little over a year after the day she and her husband, dan, were married, and years after suffering from debilitating headaches, 29-year old brittany maynard was diagnosed with brain cancer. this past spring, she learned that she had a glioblastoma brain tumor, a terminal brain cancer. after careful assessment of her prognosis and end-of-life choices, she and her family decided to move from their san francisco bay area home to oregon, one of five states (including washington, montana, vermont and new mexico) that authorize death with dignity.

she has chosen november 1, 2014 for the day that she will end her life on her own terms, so that she can celebrate her husband's birthday with him one last time on october 30.

she's described by her mother as bigger than life, a wanderlust, and precocious. here story is here and in this video: http://www.thebrittanyfund.org/

this is one of the saddest, yet most amazing stories i've read. why shouldn't she be able to choose how she wants to go, and whether she wants to go on fighting, possibly to the bitter end? i think she's pretty inspirational and wish i had the opportunity to have been friends with someone so strong.

as for our day, not much seems highlight worthy after hearing brittany maynard's story. kevin and i went for a light run along kent ave down to the brooklyn promenade, and saw the manhattan downtown skyline on our right side after sunset. it was absolutely stunning. i opted to enjoy the splendor and the cool air around us rather than snap photos this time; we will definitely go back with our cameras and snap some shots next time. the brooklyn promenade/piers have been developed quite nicely and still maintain a natural shoreline, despite all the development. can't wait to get down there and explore on our bikes too!

9.2 mile run along kent ave and the brooklyn promenade

best thing: figuring out something that's been confusing me for a while now at work. woohoo! and getting a an early cut of forecasts out for an upcoming index rebalance.

worst thing: learning that although my analyst told us on monday that he's happy to help out on the desk as his new position doesn't begin until early december, has actually scheduled personal travel starting the week of october 20th. therefore, we have decided that his last day will be next friday, october 17th.

smile: hearing mayday (五天月）songs at our local malay restaurant over dinner. brings back great memories of their first concert at MSG in march!

roberta's pizza class

my two favorite pizza places in nyc so far are #1 roberta's in bushwick and #2 spuntos in the west village. both are thin crust style pizzas, so if you like thicker, hardy crusts, these may not work for you. my favorites are the margherita style pizzas at both roberta's and spunto's, although i would also highly recommend the 'shroomtown if you're in the mood for mushrooms and truffle oil at spunto's.

actually kevin and i like spunto's so much that we hosted his MD celebration dinner there as well as my 32nd birthday dinner. and my sister used spunto's to cater my bridal shower. we are quite invested there :)

roberta's is a little harder to get to because it's located in bushwick, brooklyn, which is only accessible by the L train from manhattan. not to mention, there is almost always a 25-45 minute wait for parties of 2 or more. but it is oooh so delicious! the pizza crust is thin, but chewy and has a great flavor. the tomato sauce is savory yet light, which reminds me of my favorite pizza place in tokyo, pizza salvatore cuomo! roberta's currently has temporary locations at madison square eats and broadway eats in near times square, so i've been able to have it for lunch a couple times.

so, tonight kevin and i learned to make roberta's pizza at the brooklyn kitchen with anthony falco and peter litschi (thanks eric and carlin ! although we arrived 15 minutes late (bummer, work!), it seems like we didn't miss much and the class of 12 was just getting to know the instructors. anythony and peter were both super laid back and kept the class pretty light. lots of talk of "balls". we learned about the type of ingredients used at roberta's, and we made our own pizza dough (enough for 2 pizzas each)! then with pre-set pizza dough prepared for us the previous evening, we shaped the dough (a bit tricky), and topped it! 

here are some photos from the night:

sausage, prosciutto, salami, basil, romanesco, and an amazing stinky cheese!

more delicious cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, parm reggiano) and red onions

my pizza (before)

kev's masterpiece

my pizza (after)

tonight and this weekend we'll have to try to recreate these pizzas pies with our four pieces of pizza dough. we'll see how that goes ...

best thing: early morning run with kev up and down kent ave and re-discovering our neighborhood before the sun is up! it's the little moments that count:) actually i was surprised to see that kent ave is actually a parking spot for tractor trailers catching up on rest.

worst thing: maison kayser increased the price of its nicoise salad by $0.85! this may not seem like a whole lot, but i could rationalize $11.98 for a salad for lunch (including tax), but at $12.90 there's a psychological barrier. perhaps it's because $12.90 feels closer to $15 than $10.

smile: upon realizing that the previous customer had left her iphone at the counter, the guy behind the brooklyn kitchen cash register hurried from behind the register and out the front door in search of the customer to return her phone. he came back unsuccessful a few minutes later, but i was glad to see he put so much effort into trying.

miso happy

one year ago i married my love, my best friend, and my running mate. today we celebrated our one year anniversary and exchanged what we realized were cards from the same collection!

envelopes

my card to kev on the left + his card to me on the right

best thing: commuting to work with my husband from brooklyn because the walk is a little longer (10 min vs 2 min) and the train ride and transfer adds on another 15 minutes.

worst thing: my analyst announced he was resigning and moving back to the bahamas to work for his billionaire father on launching start-up investment funds. right smack in the middle of busy season.

smile: after kevin opened the card i gave him, he was left with a devious look on his face, and reached into his jacket inner pocket to pull out ... an envelope for me. as i started opening it, i realized it was a card from the same collection as the one i got for him and our mutual corny sense of humor brought a huge smile to my face :) i bought his secretly in seattle months ago, and he secretly bought mine in nyc!