iphone

sometimes when i get an email from someone and it says "sent from my iPhone" on the bottom, i want to reply back and end it with "sent from my laptop". just to see what would happen.

visitors!

my parents came to visit last weekend. this is huge. i've lived in new york for two years now and this is the first time they've visited me. here are some highlights:
- on saturday we went to the american natural history museum. we pretty much walked around all day on little sleep since they were a bit jetlagged. my mom sorta took a mini nap when we had a coffee break.
-my dad had a dream friday night and when he woke up he said that he needed to buy some lotto tickets. we bought one each. then that night he prayed to God that we'd loose.
- parents in town means good food at restaurants :) on saturday night we met up with distant relatives to a korean restaurant. i got really excited to see the table filling with banchan and appetizers. and on sunday for lunch we went to a japanese place owned by my aunt's friend. they didn't give us menus. the food just came. it was awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeee! a HUGE platter of assorted sushi, pork salad, mochi, and more. it was an almost 3 hr lunch. i don't know the last time i ate so much!
- we walked around 10 miles each day wandering the city. including walking across the brooklyn bridge and then realizing that i don't actually know where the subway stop to get back is.
- my dad fixed my door. now it actually stays shut when i close it. but now i have to turn the knob to open the door.

i like having visitors. it makes me fall in love with the city again. i get to go on adventures through the city, find random statues and make up stories about why they were commissioned, and re-experience all the little things that make up manhattan that i usually rush through.

picky eaters..

i am an equal opportunity eater. if it's food, i'll probably try it. it bugs me when i find out that someone is a picky eater or refuses to eat something because it's out of their comfort zone. even in a hypothetical situation.

my roommate is the whitest boy i know. he's from wyoming and went to michigan state. which means he grew up eating square middle state food like meat and potatoes. he finds the idea of sushi repulsive (fish just wasn't something he grew up with. and in sushi the fish is GASP!! raw!), he doesn't like beans, doesn't really eat vegetables or fruits.. let alone a mango. i've stopped offering him food because the answer is always no. his eating habits are both weird to me and a bit fascinating.

the other day, i met another guy whose food habits surprised me. he lives in sunset park section of brooklyn and i asked him if he likes the variety of authentic ethnic foods that sunset park is known for. i referenced mexican food (i love mexican food) and he told me that he doesn't like to eat non-asian food. i took that comment as an insult to mexican food and fired back that i don't like chinese food. there was an awkward pause. apparently i'm very good at creating awkward moment. yay me.

summertime!

today actually felt like summer. the sun was out, the air was warm, and not a cloud in sight. it was lovely. especially after the shitty summer we have been having. so today i decided to take a walk through central park when a guy walks past me and asks if i'm taking a hallucinogen or some other drug. i didn't know how to respond to that so i just gave him a weird look and kept walking. then as he's walking away, he says "you must be on a hallucinogen because why else wouldn't you find me attractive?". um. maybe because you asked me if i'm high? just throwing that out there. you know, as a possible reason.

father's day

today was fathers day so i gave him a call. but he said he couldn't talk long. he was in the middle of a golf tournament.

new policy

so. i have a new policy. a no-talking-to-strangers policy. when i walk back to the subway after work, i tend to see the same people every week. most of them have no names. just identifiers. first i check to see if the psychic is still awake, if she's on the phone, or if her son is on the phone. then i walk past the econo lodge and see if the black girl is working or the asian girl is working. then i cross the street and wave to the mexican guy with the ponytail at the pizza shop. right next to the pizza place is a bar where there are usually three homelss guys. one gave me a rose. and then took it back after i told him i wasn't going to pay him $5 for it. another sells newspapers. free newspapers. he recently started talking to me and says that i'm always smiling. today i found out his name is truson. then there's omar, the porter at the edison hotel. then lue at the w hotel. and mohamed at the shish kebab stand right in front of the train station. it took a long time to know their names or even say anything more than "good morning". that's really what i wanted. a sesame street moment where we all wave hi and i head on home. now omar wants to hang out and lue wants to go on a picnic. but if i see these ppl away from their hotels, what will happen if we end up hating each other? then i have to find a new way to walk to the train. that's why i have my new policy. or i'm anti-social.

i met meeko. twice!

one day i was walking through central park when i saw a racoon walking around in the water (fishing, i assume) and i started taking pictures of it. then it realized i was there so it kinda hid from me. by climbing up the tree. and scared me a little since i had given up finding it again. so i took another picture of it, thanked it, and walked away. i'm not sure if the thank you was for letting me take its picture or for not attacking me and giving me rabies.

a few weeks later, i take another walk through central park and i see a group of people taking pictures of a tree. naturally, i go over to see what they're taking pictures of and see another raccoon in a hidey-hole. and then became one of the people making the poor noctural animal blind with camera flashes.

on a side note, you know what song line is stuck in my head right now? "do the helen keller and talk with your hips".

food has to be eaten?

i love food. but i like reading about food and looking at pictures of food more than making and eating food. i guess it has to do with only having myself to feed and it's not as much fun and it's alot of work. the good thing is that if i mess up, nobody knows. i just have to suffer through eating horrible food. sometimes i take food to rina's house and get my cooking fix in. but usually i just look at recipes and say "hmm.. i wonder how i can modify this so i can make it at rina's house". mordy has said that he likes when i go over bc i usually bring something exotic. i made them vegetable soup when everyone was sick (rina didn't want to have chicken soup), wontons, tostones, seaweed soup, and rhubarb compote. i don't think these things are exotic. just different from things they usually eat. and i love that they aren't picky eaters and are willing to let me take over their kitchen every once in a while.

the last time i went to visit, we passed a dry goods store. i got pretty excited and asked them if they sold beans and stuff. rina said no. more like paper plates. mordy asked me if all i ever think about is food. is it bad that the answer is yes, usually?

i took an inventory of my fridge earlier today. i have sandwich meat, a bunch of asparagus, a bunch of ramps, a thing of ginger, and tomatoes. this is only because a couple days ago i made nettle pesto and green garlic pesto. and i made rhubarb compote last week. i blame tastespotting for the nettles, green garlic, ramps, sunchokes, and rhubarb. well, maybe not the rhubarb. but nettles and ramps, yes. i really hope the ramps get made into something and i don't have to resort to making a third pesto. my roommates must think i'm crazy. my food consists of four types of flour, two pestos, random veggies, kimchee, asian sauces, and american condiments. oh, and about twelve cups of ganache. but this is only because at work we make ganache for the hot chocolate and i usually take home a cup. even though it hasn't been hot chocolate weather. but i'm sure i can find ways to eat that chocolate. oh, and i bring back a loaf of bread at least once a week. but rarely finish the loaf. someday i'll make croutons or bread crumbs or bruchetta or something. hmm... maybe i should stop bringing stuff back.

so. i have a blog.

so. i have this blog. the one you're looking at right now. but the last post was back in december. i've decided to change that. now i'm going to try to update more frequently. maybe writing about weird things i see around this crazy city. like when i saw a stroller locked to a pipe outside of a montesori last week. or the double rainbow i saw a couple days ago. or the movie crew that was setting up for the nicholas cage movie (based on fantasia but live action.. doesn't sound good) in time square. but these things are one sentance long. and sometimes they're fragments. they never seem blog worthy. maybe i should add a picture. maybe i'll blog about what i ate. although that could be boring. seeing as in the last week i made pasta, quesadillas, sandwiches, and bread dipped in pasta sauce or bbq sauce. and they're nothing spectacular. sometimes they'er just sad. bread dipped in pasta sauce? that probably has negative nutrients. but it's something to eat until i get to work and fill myself with (more) bread and cookies. in any case, i've decided to blog a bit more.