Weekend Projects

Happy Monday! (1 week and 4 more days to go...)



I kept myself VERY busy this weekend and continued my nesting activities. I finally settled on a new furniture arrangement for our dining room. I can't even tell you how many times I moved that dining table two feet to the right, to the left, then back again, just to have it end up in its original location. I decided to give the green bookcase/hutch a new home and moved it all the way across the room and then created a little sitting space right across from it (taking a few pieces from the living room). A few before shots here and here. Now if I could just afford to buy a huge rug to fit under our dining table!!



I also tried a new Oatmeal Raisin and Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe - I liked the overall texture and the whole soaking of the raisins technique, but I will probably leave out the ginger and decrease the amount of nutmeg by half or just leave it out as well next time I make it. Give it a try when you get a chance, I think it's a great recipe (they turned out really moist and chewy) and if you have a thing for cookies that are more on the spicy side then you'll really love these!

Weekend Wrap-up: Dentist and Chain Restaurants

The highlight of this weekend was going to my favorite dentist and dental hygienist in the world on Saturday. I haven't been to the dentist in about a year because I didn't have health insurance and figured I would religiously floss and all would be forgiven. Well, it didn't quite work out as I planned - I may have missed a couple of days ;)

Anyway, the cleaning session was pretty bad, so bad that my gums and teeth are still sore from all the scraping and pushing. Fortunately my "no-insurance" excuse was heartfelt by Karen (the best hygienist in the universe) and I wasn't scolded for missing cleaning appointments. If you live in Queens and need a dentist, email me and I'll be happy to share. And yes, I love them so much that I travel all the way to Queens (my old haunt) just to get tortured for an hour.


That's me fascinated by the size of the "free refill" iced tea


I went for the Chipotle Chicken Sandwich. Hey, might as well go for something good (bad)!

I also picked up some bagels from my favorite bagel place (to freeze), it's hard to find good bagels! Last time we were in town, Hillsy and I ate at Cabana - a decent Cuban restaurant. This time, we decided to eat at Uno's... well, because we just don't get too many chain restaurants in the city and we kind of miss them :)

Weekend Eats

Yep it's that time again... time to see how much I ate over the weekend! (not as bad as last weekend)


Sesame Bagel + Creamcheese from Bagel Zone


Croque Madame


Cream of Corn Soup (+Soy Cappuccino) - weird combo I know!


Vietnamese Iced Coffee


Bánh mì Thit (Vietnamese Pork Sandwich)


From Sobaya - Mori (Plain cold noodle with dipping sauce) & Una Don (broiled Eel over rice)


Green tea, Wasabi and Black Sesame Ice-cream

Weekend Eats

Here's a quick overview of what I consumed over the weekend...


Soy Latte


French Toast


Cheesecake + Ice Coffee


Lombardi Pizza


Pancakes


Idaho and Sweet Potatoes


1/4 pound kobe burger

This girl can eat! And this is why going to the gym is a big part of my life =)

Weekend Wrap-up: Work work work

We finally got around to watching Michael Clayton, unfortunately the download was acting up and kept skipping frames. I like Tilda Swinton, but unless I missed a couple of pivotal scenes, I'm not really sure how she managed to snag the Oscar. We also saw This is England - great movie. I don't understand why this movie didn't make a bigger splash. The acting was excellent and overall very very enjoyable. Add this one to your Netflix queue. Hillsy made his famous kettle popcorn - it's the best!

I'm attempting to run twice a week now. I pushed myself to run 5 minutes extra on Saturday and it completely wiped me out for the rest of the day. Although I did manage to eat Thé Adoré again for brunch (Jee - the girl now recognizes us!)


They have the best cream of corn soup!

I spent most of the weekend working on the new blog. As you can tell, I haven't launched it. It's pretty much all set to go, but I want the timing to be absolutely perfect! I'll be reaching out to fellow bloggers this week and I really really hope that it's well received by the community. I'll definitely be ready to post some screenshots by this week. I've pushed the launch date to next Monday (17th.).

Weekend Wrap-up: Chinatown & Jersey

We almost missed this 5:30 bus to New Jersey. Got this shot, then quickly realized that I was getting bus-sick.

This weekend felt way too short - probably because of last week's 3-day weekend. I'm hoping that this week will prove to be a little more productive!



Hillsy's hair was getting out of control so we had to brave the crowd and headed down to Chinatown to see Gary - his favorite stylist. We always have to get ourselves mentally prepared for this monthly trip because it's just plain insane down there during the weekends.



You can hardly walk down the sidewalks - most of the fruit, vegetable, meat and seafood markets are open in the front and the crowds spill onto the sidewalks. But you really can't blame the crowds, the prices down here just can't be beat.


My favorite part about Chinatown - TenRen's bubble tea! I love their Taro Milk Tea with tapioca balls


Hillsy on guitar & Zandra on bass (Z - hope you don't kill me for this one!)

Karen's Rock Band Party was a success - it was so much fun! I was intimidated by the instruments so I ended up singing (or should I say screaming) Metallica's Enter Sandman - no joke! The food was of course excellent. Karen turned it out with an endless variety of goodness. Check out this great photo-op - the cook's schedule. Very organized - a sign of a good cook.



I spent the whole day "working" on Sunday. Non-stop laptop work. I'm considering starting a second blog and spent the entire day researching, surfing and making sure that I would have enough content to warrant a second one. More on that exciting news later!

Weekend Wrap-up: I'm getting old!

How do the youngsters do it?? I'm so exhausted (and stuffed)!



My weekend started early with a wine class on Thursday night. Hillsy signed us up for a 2-day intro to wine course at the Institute of Culinary Education. It was a great class and if you live near/in the city I highly recommend taking it. It was more of an introduction to different types of wines rather than learning about wine terminology (legs, finish etc). I think I'll write a separate post about the whole experience.

We had dinner at Knife + Fork for a friend's birthday on Friday - soooo good. Again, I highly recommend checking out Knife + Fork if you're in the neighborhood. The 6-Course Chef tasting menu ($45) is such a great deal. We've eaten there twice before and we've always left happy. I love how the integrity of each key ingredient (e.g., scallop, Long Island Duck, Haddock) stays intact even in the midst of the more complex sauce, broth, rub, marinade that accompanies each one.

My girlfriends and I had dinner at Southern Hospitality (Justin Timberlake's restaurant) on Saturday night. I had the Homestyle Fried Chicken Platter (Buttermilk marinated and deep fried until golden brown, served with garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, greens & cornbread.) I was pretty happy with my dish, but then again who can possibly get this dish wrong? The place was very casual and had more of a bar vibe. TVs on the walls, papertowel rolls on the tables, Budweiser ketchup holder - I think you get the picture. The food wasn't bad but I don't think I'll be returning to this JT production anytime soon.


We started with the BBQ Nachos - A huge portion of fresh tortilla chips topped with our BBQ beans, cheddar cheese, BBQ sauce, sour cream, guacamole, and homemade pico de gallo.) This looks like crap, but it was actually really really good.


Homestyle Fried Chicken Platter


We finished the meal with the Peach Cobbler.

We then headed over to a bar to celebrate Joanna's and Hillsy's Bday.


Hillsy is so tall - this is usually the angle of most of the pics I take of him. And YES, he is holding a karaoke mic singing Elvis' Hound Dog!

Chick Flick Sunday officially kicked off. We saw 27 Dresses - it was cute, it wasn't the BEST movie in the world but it was watchable and I think it was the perfect movie to kick off the series (I hope).

The weekend came to a close at Seymour Burton, a new local favorite!


Roasted Chicken with lemon and thyme - not sure if you can see it, but there's a layer of mascarpone and prosciutto hiding beneath the skin! Yum.

Weekend Wrap-up: $40 Burgers

It was Hillsy's birthday on Friday but it became more of a birthday weekend - in true Queen fashion =)



I took him to Old Homestead Steakhouse, a place known for Kobe beef. We saw a food show a couple of months ago and when he almost teared up watching Zimmerman's big mouth wrapped around the colossal Kobe burger - I knew that this was the place to take him for his birthday.



I wouldn't normally order a burger at a steakhouse, but I too wanted to know what the buzz was all about. This thing was enormous, I couldn't even fit it into my mouth. So did the $40 burger taste like what you would expect from a $40 burger... I'm going to allow the burger connoisseur to address that in a critic's corner post (hopefully by tomorrow).



I also baked a chocolate lover's dream cake - Blanc et noir. Each bite was like biting into a perfect baked truffle - melt in your mouth goodness!! I'll be posting the recipe and how-to pics by the end of the week!

The birthday celebration ended last night at an impromptu dinner with a couple of friends at Carne Vale - a churrascaria. We used to like this place a lot, but after last night we both felt that it's gone downhill. I think Hillsy will be providing a critic's corner review for this place as well!

Weekend Wrap-up: Turkish Delight

I spent Friday night engaged with my new project - I was just in the zone and couldn't pry myself from Greta. Surprisingly I still managed to force myself to use up the last package of meat that I bought for the week (or else it would've been wasted coz I don't think it would've survived another day in the fridge). I wanted to try making a good and simple stew. It turned out pretty good - I'll write up the recipe in a little bit. You can't beat slow-cooking a cheap cut of meat into something tender and melt in the mouth.

Our spinning class on Saturday was tougher than ever. Not because of the actual workout but because of the music. It was just plain awful. We've been trying to decide if we should go find another class to take, but the instructor is really nice and she really makes an effort when putting together the playlist. We're also two of her "regulars", so we would feel bad going AWOL. Besides, we already stopped taking her Friday classes.The rest of the morning was spent running errands as usual.



We ventured out into Astoria for a dinner party on Saturday night. Great company, the wine flowed endlessly and the food (Turkish) was awesome. And her apartment was inspiring - each room had a different color. She also had an impressive collection of pure white cotton sheets (some adorned with embroidery and lacework edges) from Turkey, effortlessly draped over curtain rods. I've been nagging Hillsy about painting our walls since we left her apartment =)


Turkish coffee - this stuff is potent!

Thanks again Bahar! It was delicious - as predicted! I can't believe I was able to gulp down your Turkish coffee - that was strong as hell and definitely kept us awake for our train ride home!

I spent Sunday morning tidying up. I'm not sure what came over me, but I had the intense desire to clean out the bookshelves and make sure that everything was still in color-order. I also tried to organize my sewing supplies in preparation for the new Elfa drawers that I'll be purchasing this afternoon. I'm hoping to organize my area in this manner.

I also met up with a friend who's visiting from Germany. We took him to two of Hillsy's favorite bars and by the end of the night, we made the decision to take a trip out to Munich this year to repay the visit. Can't wait!

Weekend Wrap-Up: Buzz, Buzz, Buzz

First of all, a big thank you to Jessica and Kathy (for you know what!)



So my first weekend back in the city was quite buzzy. Although, Friday was rather quiet. It was so funny, I received a text from my friend Jade "Are you out tonight by any chance?" I responded 12:15 I'm afraid not - I'm currently wearing a mud lavender face mask and about to remove it with a scrub =)


As predicted, I was too lazy to cook dinner on Friday so the frozen meatballs and sauce came in handy.

Saturday was full of errands:
- Spinning
- Picked up a cup of Black Tea Soy Latte for the walk home
- Picked up laundry
- Dropped-off gym bag & laundry at home (5th floor walk-up)
- Walk to Apple Store. The evil MacBook that hates me, has been shutting down on battery. Battery replaced.
- Brunch at favorite Diner
- Attempted to pick up a customized stamp that I ordered before Christmas. Not yet ready - annoying.
- Duane Reade
- Walk home. 5 flights up. Ooops forgot to go to the candy shop.
- Candy shop
- Stationery shop to pick up shipping supplies
- Grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner

Home sweet home (5 more flights up)

Sunday was a little more relaxing than Saturday. Zandra and I decide to meet up and watch a chick flick. We chose the least likely film that we could convince our other halves to watch. Well, at least without a)blindfolding them on the way to the theater, b)duct-taping both arms and legs and finally c)crazy gluing them onto the seats. The movie was pretty good, it was definitely a tear jerker. Zandra and I were sniffling and tilting our heads up to keep the tears from falling =)

Weekend Wrap-up: A 25-Hour Day

It's so nice to wake up at 10am only to realize that it's only 9am. I love gaining an hour (daylight savings)... and then the love immediately turns sour once I realize that it will be pitch black by the time 5pm rolls around.

I was unprepared for the sudden chill in the air - walking around Saturday morning in Union Square was not as pleasant as its been for the past couple of months. Inspired by the biting wind from Saturday, I spent most of Sunday sadly putting away summer clothes in exchange for sweaters, tights, and socks.

I also decided to bake but wasn't too impressed with the end result. I love super sweet desserts and this one just wasn't sweet enough for this sweet-tooth. It was a recipe from one of my chocolate handbooks - White Chocolate Coconut Squares. Although the coconut filling was quite impressive. I would probably add condensed milk to it and a lot more sugar to the shortbread dough. Overall, I don't think it was worth the effort.

We couldn't be bothered to go to the movie theater, but we finally got around to watching a Netflix movie that's been sitting on the side table for god knows how long - Iraq in Fragments. It started out fairly weak but managed to pick itself up and turned out to be a pretty interesting and thought provoking documentary about Iraq and the US occupation. It was a 3-part doc that focused mainly on three views, represented by the three dominant groups in Iraq - the Sunnis, the Shias and the Kurds.



I usually get obsessed with a specific cuisine when it comes to ordering in. This weekend - it was sushi's turn. I haven't been in the mood for sushi ever since I got food poisoning last Christmas, but it looks as though the bug is back - we had it for dinner on both Saturday and Sunday night =)

Weekend Wrap-up: Fall is here

Happy Monday. It's officially Fall in New York City! AND a Happy Belated Birthday to Amanda!!

This weekend was pretty uneventful, one of those weekends where I look back and think I should've done more.

I'm afraid there's really nothing too exciting to report...

Friday
We spent the evening at home curled up on the couch watching tv and eating leftover bolognese sauce.

Saturday
Usual morning, then we headed uptown to Vera Wang to pick up my dress for Lyn's wedding. I can't believe how much nicer the dress looks when it's the right size. Usually when you try on bridesmaid dresses, the sample size is way too big and you end up pinning and clipping the dress to get a sense of what it will look like. So, I'm quite happy with the dress but I can't gain one ounce from now until December or this baby isn't going to close! Hopefully the shoes that I ordered (Kenneth Cole Reaction Snip Gloss) will go with the dress!

I also went back to Amai Tea and Bake House to pick up more goodies. We had a quick bite before heading uptown. We split a green tea muffin and this very yummy sweet potato quiche.

The best part about Saturday night was getting a night off from dinner duties - a special someone volunteered to make dinner =)


Sunday
Baking & crafting. I think I'm almost ready to show a sneak peek of my latest project. I also spent a good amount of time setting up the Lifeflix Top Picks Shop.

I didn't have enough energy to plan this week's menu but I'm thinking Filipino food... time to call my sister!

Hopefully next weekend will be a little more colorful!

Weekend Wrap-up: The Batali reign begins

Hi guys - I'm doing something very very special today and will tell you all about it tomorrow! I gotta go - so this will be my last post of the day but I'll definitely have lots to share tomorrow... sorry to keep you in suspense ;-)

Friday
I tried out one of many Batali recipes to come - Spaghetti alla Carbonara.

Found the perfect recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

Finally finished the Trench Coat for Ms. Thang.



Saturday
Usual Saturday morning - spin & Le Pain Quotidien for a quick bite before hitting the shops to find a tall somebody new black boots. After a very unsuccessful manic start at Shoe Mania (the name says it all), we finally struck gold in Soho at Kenneth Cole's. I thought it was a pretty good choice, I'm glad he went with something with a little more ooomph. Although, I'm not sure if he'll ever wear it with the buckles on.

I cooked another Batali recipe - Braised Beef Short Ribs with Squash Orzo. The meat was tender as can be - literally fell off the bones. The flavor of the wine really shined through and the richness was balanced by the sweetness of the butternut squash orzo. A perfect Fall/Winter comfort food dish.



Sunday
I'm not sure what got into me, but I spent the morning organizing the kitchen. Moving appliances around, organizing the plate/glass cabinet and even scrubbed the top of the fridge. I also got rid of a box-full of glasses and mugs to give away.

I then persuaded "bad to the bones" to walk over a few avenues to check out some potential floor lamps (I have a hard time crafting at night while sitting on the couch - not enough light) but couldn't find any that I liked. So instead we ended up eating another "bad" breakfast at Moonstruck and stopping by the fabric shop to pick up muslin for my partner in crime.

I spent a couple of hours working on you know who/what and finished a pair of black boots and then realized that I wasn't going to be around today so I had to upload a bunch of photos from the weekend.