From 90024 to 10027

I don't think about it as much anymore but it still occasionally creeps into my mind, especially during quiet moments when I'm sitting alone in my room.

I sleep until about 9:30 a.m. every weekday, and even later on weekends. My window faces southwest, and by about 10 a.m. the sun is shining directly into my eye through my transparent window shades as I lie in bed. It continues shining brightly at my oversized double-paned glass window, making my room deceptively warm even on cold days when the weather outside is below 40. As I write the temperature on my digital clock reads 78.4 and I am sitting here in a T-shirt and capri workout pants (quickly becoming my loungewear of choice). If I sit at the window and look to the right I catch a small glimmer of the Hudson River. And if I look all the way to the left I can see the tips of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge - I think of it as the bridge to home, simply because it was the bridge I took to get here after landing at LaGuardia Airport. I peer at it wistfully.

We had a 5-day Thanksgiving Weekend, and it was pretty action-packed. (More photos to follow later).

In the last 7 days I've been to Central Park twice, ate at Shake Shack twice, went to the American Museum of Natural History, ate pizza twice, saw Harry Potter, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, walked up 5th Avenue, walked down the grand staircase at the Apple Store, and watched people play on the Big Piano at FAO Schwarz.

It was especially cold yesterday, the coldest yet so far. With wind chill it felt about 30. I had almost all my layers and the only more I can do is wear one more layer, and switch up my accessories to thicker wool or cashmere versions. (After that I won't be able to go outside at all!)

So on the last day of the long weekend I attempt to read in my executive chair near the window, grab an orange highlighter, and I am thus reminded of how I forgot to pack favorite pens and highlighters, which inevitably, always leads to thinking back on those late days in August during my "mad rush" to pack. I like being prepared, and feeling prepared. I'm the type of person who packs for vacation a week before the vacation. I make lists. In the end, I felt wholly unprepared. Maybe it was not such a good idea to leave so much to do in five days: clear out work space I had had for 3.5 years (at a job I had for 8.5 years), clear out an apartment I had lived at for 9 years, pack and organize things for shipping here, for storage at my parents' house, and for bringing here in suitcases. I think the end result was feeling mentally, physically, and emotionally drained. And ultimately feeling disoriented and disjointed. Even though I definitely feel a lot more settled in than say, 88 days ago, a part of me still feels like my "old life" is continuing on a parallel universe somewhere. It is still summer there. And my apartment, and my office are all still intact. As if I had just gotten up for a moment.

But I didn't. And they are gone.

Day 88

Day 88 in NYC. If I left now I can always look back and say I lived in NYC for 3 months. But I'm gonna make it a year. No, five years.

The weather now is in the 50s and already colder than it ever gets in L.A. To me, this is winter!

I can honestly say that I feel a lot more settled in now. I have my daily routines. For the most part, I've got the eating situation squared away. I think in the beginning I was trying too hard to quickly establish an eating routine and it wasn't working out. First off, it is a pain in the butt to cook in the community kitchen. I have to bring my pots, oil, utensils, and all the ingredients to the kitchen and back and it's a lot of work! Take a simple thing like spaghetti. You need two pots! One to boil the pasta, one to cook the sauce. I use the random pots lying around in the kitchen (some of which may not belong to anyone, but some do). This means after I cook, I wash them immediately while the pots are still hot. Then I have to carry everything back to my room (that means my piping hot food) because there's no kitchen table to eat at. Also, while you are cooking, sometimes you realize you forgot a simple thing, such as salt. If you had your own kitchen, you'd simply open the cupboard and grab the salt. Here I have to go through two heavy doors (and back) to get salt!

Point is, I've resorted to take out, frozen foods, and the school cafeteria. It's just easier. I use the kitchen to toast my bread and maybe fry an egg on weekends. That's about it. I boil water in my room with my Aroma water kettle that I got on Amazon (love it!). I use my microwave, a lot more than I'd like to (I used to be anti-microwave). I buy frozen rice (actually I did that in L.A. too - hey, as a single person, it makes sense). I would buy frozen cooked pasta too except my freezer is too small.

Things have to change - by things I mean habits and routines. I think I used to shop for groceries like I was preparing for a war. I'd stock up, buy in bulk, etc. When I moved out in August I gave my parents a huge box filled with canned foods and dry goods (was amazed how much stuff I had stockpiled!). Now I can't really do that, because of space issues. It forces me to buy only what I will immediately consume, and I manage to clear out the fridge and freezer pretty frequently. It makes me feel slightly nervous and uncomfortable, but I shouldn't feel that way. There's a 24-hour market just down the street. There's no war. There are no earthquakes.

Change is good.

I'm also feeling less sad than I did a month ago, which is good. I remember the reasons why I wanted to move, which I lost sight of when I was feeling homesick. I'm also starting to like NYC a bit more. It helps to hold your breath when you walk and look up at the cool tall buildings rather than down at the dirty gum-ridden sidewalks. (haha). But no seriously, in all sincerity, once in awhile I'll be walking around somewhere and I'll think, "hey, this part looks cool" and then I feel glad I'm here.

I may have mentioned this before, but shopping, buying stuff, and daily life in general, is just different here. I learned the first couple weeks, when it was sweltering hot, that it was a lot of work to buy stuff, especially since I had to buy a lot of basics. I grew up in the suburbs in the 80s, where before Costco we had Fedco and Gemco. I'm used to big box stores and discount prices. I struggle to bring myself to spend $5 on a pack of toilet paper (of 4 rolls!). Yet I complain about how long it takes to get to Target and back.

Thursday night I went to Duane Reade, and gasp, I bought a bottle of Lubriderm lotion and a bottle of Oil of Olay night cream, knowing full well that I spent several dollars more than I would have had at Target. I had to bite the bullet and do it. Because you know what? I needed them. And I didn't have two hours to spend trekking to Target. I spent money, but I saved time. And in general, I probably am saving more money overall, since I'm only buying things I really need, and have the space for. When I go to the grocery stores, I only buy as many things as I can carry with my two hands.

Now that I am feeling more settled in, I am finding that I have a lot of extra time on my hands. I have time to sit around and think quietly. It's mostly because I don't have a roommate (when I used to in L.A.), and I don't have a lot of friends who want to hang out all the time, and I don't visit my parents (which I did so pretty frequently), AND I don't work or have class at all on Fridays, which means every week is a three-day weekend. (Oh how can I ever possibly miss my old life!). My daily grind in L.A. was not a 9-5 but a 7:30 to 5:30 if you're talking door to door. Here my days are mostly 10-5, with one day a 10-7. Four days a week. That's nothing! Not that I'm asking for more work. Just making a point why I'm online on a Saturday night in NYC...

Why Manhattan is like Disneyland

• everywhere you go, there are a ton of people around
• everywhere you go, there are a lot of tourists
• people go there because they are looking for a happy time
• the price of admission is very high (and keeps going up every year!)
  
• every corner you turn, someone is selling food or beverages
• there are a lot of long lines
• there are parades
• you can find souvenirs very easily
• there are a lot of rides (well, in Manhattan, there are subways...case in point, the platform at 96th St looks like a dirtier version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, complete with "Danger High Voltage" signs...and the underground construction with bright lights looks even more so)
  

• there are a lot of "Kodak Spots" (everywhere you go, someone is taking a picture)
  
• it's a giant playground
• there's something for everyone
• there's always something new to see, or something you've never noticed before
• people often want to visit briefly, and not stay for an extended period of time
  
• there are a lot of artificial looking things, designed to be "fun" (case in point, Central Park can be Tom Sawyer Island:)
  

• it is very tiring...but you never tire of it...

(Now, if only Manhattan were cleaner, safer, and had more friendly cartoon characters...and if only Disneyland served alcohol...)

And suddenly...it got cold.

Laugh all you want, but it is already too cold for this native SoCal girl. It's a strange concept (for me) for the weather to drop 40 degrees in two months (it takes 5 months in L.A., if even that, maybe just a 30 degree drop before it picks right back up again!).

On the plus side, now I finally know what autumn means! Pretty soon, I presume, I will know what four seasons means.

Photos from a stroll through Central Park this past Friday. I was really amazed at the colors of the leaves.

Playing tourist with two old friends

(And by old I mean age!)
(just kidding, guys)


The weekend before last, two old friends were in town which gave me an opportunity to play tourist. When you go on vacation or visit some place new, you usually jam pack a lot of activities and cover a lot of ground in a limited time. When you live some place, sometimes you just don't take the time to do stuff, because you assume you'll just do it later, it'll always be there, etc. etc. Before I moved out of L.A. (wow, I just said that, didn't I? I moved OUT of L.A.!) I tried to go to places I had never been before. There are just too many things to do! (On a side note, this reminds me of why I wanted to move. Life is too short to not go and live some place new and challenge yourself to try new things! It's good for your brain!)

Here is a list of our activities (photo documentation on FB if you're a "friend"):

Friday, 10/15, 1:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

-lunch @ Pao (South Village)
-free Friday evenings at MOMA (midtown)
-happy hour @ Moda (midtown)
-stroll through Times Square
-dinner @ Cafe Fiorello (near Columbus Circle/Upper West Side)
-stroll through Rockefeller Center
-drinks @ Pig N' Whistle (midtown)

Saturday, 10/16, 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.

-brunch at Zabar's (Upper West Side)
-a stroll through Central Park and photo stops at Bethesda Terrace
-pit photo stops at The Met and the Guggenheim
-lobster rolls for lunch @ Luke's Lobster (Upper East Side)
-Grand Central Terminal
-New York Public Library
-Union Square
-a quick break at their hotel in South Village
-drinks @ SoHo Room
-live music/dancing @ SOB's (South Village)
-late night dinner @ Cafe Habana (Nolita)

(Sunday was off to a much slower start for obvious reasons...even had to take a mid-afternoon nap...mind you, it does take me an hour to travel downtown, i.e., I went to bed at 3 a.m.!)

Sunday, 10/17, 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
(I had to call it an early night since I had class/work the next day and two papers to write....sigh)

-Chinatown - dumplings @ Prosperity Dumplings and a bad beef noodle soup at a place I choose not to remember
-Little Italy
-Iridium jazz club (Theater District) (my friend new someone who got us in for free)

I missed out on late night dinner in East Village. And I missed out on other touristy activities that they did Monday, like exploring the Village and Chelsea.

Tuesday night

-wine & cheese @ Nectar Wine Bar (Harlem)
-dinner @ Vareli (in my 'hood)
-drinks @ Haakon's (also my 'hood)

In the end it was a little sad to say goodbye (for me at least!). They were a small reminder of home. And also it was kind of like an end to a vacation for me as well! I need to stick with my original plan of trying something new at least once a week.

More Kao adventures later.

NYC Wine & Food Festival!

Bacon and the Blues

This past weekend was the Food Network's NYC Wine & Food Festival benefiting the Food Bank for NYC and Share Our Strength. It was Thursday through Friday, with tons of events all over the city. People bought tickets months in advance (I heard the Burger Bash sold out in early January!). Ticket prices varied depending on the event.

Just a few weeks ago my friend told me about the volunteer opportunities. He had gone last year. So we signed up and gave our available times and they assigned us to events. Thursday night we were assigned to an event called Bacon and the Blues Hosted by Todd English. It was at a new hotel called the Andaz at 41st & 5th Ave. The hotel was pretty nice. All the hotel staff ladies carried small laptops and dressed in all black and all had a matching crossbody satchel to carry their things. The laptops were used for checking people in and out because they didn't have a traditional "front desk."

The event seemed to be pretty nice, from what I could see. It was $75 so it was one of the cheaper/smaller events. Only about 5 or 6 restaurants were participating. Each restaurant presented 1 or 2 small items which involved bacon. One room had a live band and an open bar. Another room was a bar just serving Coors Light (I think). The event seemed very well coordinated...but the volunteer staff was not. It was very chaotic and confusing, with our team leaders feeling pretty clueless too. My friend and I got picked to take tickets out front and there was a lot of confusion over where we were to stand, if we could have a table (the answer was no, the hotel doesn't even have a real front desk after all!), and whether we were to cross check people's names with their tickets. Part of the confusion was because we didn't know who was really in charge. Was it Food Network people? Or Food Bank staff? Or Thrillist, a small men's entertainment magazine sponsoring the event? Very confusing and chaotic.

While taking tickets, I ran into someone from UCLA I hadn't seen in over 10 years!!

Later on, we were able to sample some of the foods (but no drinks) and then there wasn't much else to do. There were more volunteers than needed. Some of the other volunteers were posted at different parts of the hallway to direct people to the elevator or the bathroom (which was totally not necessary). No pics because we were told we weren't allowed to take any (a ton of press were there though! I wished I was one of them!).

On a side note, I told my friend that there were a lot of good looking people at the event and he said he didn't agree. Later, I realized, no, it's not that they are good looking, it's more that they are well-groomed and impeccably dressed. Up to that point, I hadn't been anywhere in NYC where I saw so many of one type of people in one concentrated area. (I spend most of my time hanging out in the 'hood or on the subway!)

Blue Moon Burger Bash 2010!


Friday night we were assigned to the Burger Bash (which I guess is a recurring tradition at this festival). It was at the Tobacco Warehouse in Brooklyn. Not actually a warehouse anymore. Not even a real building anymore. Just the old brick remains of walls (no roof). I guess it's a place people can rent out for weddings. This was a huge event. 2,000 tickets were sold (and it was sold out!). There was a huge tent pitched for the main part of the event. There were about 30 volunteers who showed up. Besides this event, I basically did nothing all day because I woke up at 11 a.m. and then I had to head out at 3:00 p.m. because it takes me an hour to get to Brooklyn.

Again, no pictures allowed, but I snuck some with my camera phone. Unfortunately I didn't get any good shots with my "dumb" phone (which used to be smart two years ago but somehow is no longer). This one girl, a college student, took a picture of the ice sculpture by a sweets/cupcakes place (I forgot the name) and I asked her to text it to my email but I never got it. :( She must've typed in the wrong addy.

Coca-cola, as you can see from my little pic, was a major sponsor.
Also NY Times was there with this really cool digital photo booth. Once you took a picture it was instantly printed and also sent to a slideshow being broadcast on two large screens at the booth. The photos were in B&W and had this soft, newspaper-looking effect. Click here to find me in the gallery! (hint, I'm in two different pics)


Like the previous event, there were more volunteers than needed. I guess they wanted to make sure they had enough help and to account for no-shows. There were plenty of staff at the event - people specifically hired to do set up and to wait tables, etc, so it's not like we had to do that. At first I just stood around trying to look useful. I answered three questions (Where's the bathroom? Where's the Coke counter? Where's the Shake Stand booth?). Later I was pulled to put wrist bands on latecomers with tickets. I also handed out some fliers.

This was a pretty good event and if I had $225 to spend, one day, I'd go. A ton of restaurants were there, all serving some type of burger. Most of them also featured some kind of side item. Burgers were either quartered or they were sliders. Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, Ted Allen, Gail Simmons, and other food people I didn't recognize or recognized but couldn't name (because I honestly hardly ever watch the Food Network) were there. Mayor Bloomberg was there too.

At the end of the event people were staggering out the door, totally plastered. It's a good thing you don't have to drive in NYC.

We weren't supposed to eat any of the burgers (and definitely not allowed to drink any alcohol, which was a bummer because Blue Moon taps were flowing at every corner), but some of the chefs were pushing them on us. Try it! Have some! Please! Before the guests arrived I had a quarter of a burger from Lure Fishbar (it was good but a bit too rare for me) and a slider from Morton's Steakhouse (yes they make burgers!). It was good. Throughout the event I noticed other volunteers eating (I saw one drinking a beer! gasp!) but I no longer felt like eating. My friend got one from The Dutch (a restaurant that hasn't even opened yet!) and it came with a small cup of maple stout float (which I gladly consumed for him).

At the end of the night there were plenty of leftovers so I snagged two burgers "to go" and ate one on my way out. It was a lobster burger but I forgot from where.

My other one (also forgot from where) became Sunday brunch:



I deconstructed it and reheated it separately and then put it back together. There were greens, caramelized red onions, slices of strawberries, and bacon on a brioche bun. :) With a fried egg, a cupcake from the place with the ice sculpture (a bit mashed getting it home), some fruit, coffee, and juice, and I've got brunch!

Day 40

It's Day 40. How forty days have already passed is beyond me. I'm not going to lie, I miss L.A. terribly. I miss the sunshine and palm trees. I'm already sick of looking at brick walls and concrete. (Dirty concrete, mind you.)

Things I found myself missing or craving:

- California wine (well, this is more the fact that I have to go to a specialty wine shop to buy it rather than just any grocery store...AND that it often costs more than double what it would have cost at my neighborhood TJ's in L.A.)
-McDonald's chicken McNuggets (fortunately, no shortage of those here. This is otherwise inexplicable).
-view of palm trees (as aforementioned)
-heck, view of anything but ugly old buildings
-my car (and driving)
-my $500 ergonomic OfficeMaster PT-74 "cross-performance" chair (for obvious reasons...my back is killing me!)
-my firm bed (ditto above)
-California fruits (I had no idea! And they say it gets worse in the winter!)
-pho
-personal space (as previously discussed)
-germ-free living
-shopping (it's just too much work here...plus no money).
-weekend brunches (it's just not the same here)
-my friends (of course!)
-a real, non-communal kitchen to call my own
-a couch
-all the clothes, shoes, and bags I left behind
-having a disposable income
-my old crummy comforter that probably cost nothing compared to the expensive down comforter I bought for use here (sometimes old crummy things are more comforting)
-proximity to real nature
-the sounds of birds chirping in the morning
-Step class at the UCLA gym
-cereal that costs less than $5 a box
-big box stores and chain restaurants (gasp! I said it! I'll admit I've been wanting Target, IKEA, Ralph's, Olive Garden, and PF Changs! Maybe even Black Angus! and Red Lobster! I'm a suburban girl after all...wah!)(Yes, I realize they have some of those here!)

-the list goes on...

I mention McDonald's and chain restaurants because for some reason, I kind of miss them or crave them even though I can access them here and even though I hardly went to those places back in L.A. In fact, I usually complained about them. In fact, I'm usually all about the independent stores! I can't figure out why I really wouldn't mind some pasta fagioli soup or endless salad from Olive Garden right now. Maybe because there's some deep-seated familiarity in those tastes and flavors. And having something familiar in an unfamiliar setting is easier to, ahem, digest (pun intended) than constantly being in the unfamiliar. I dunno...but I'll cut the philosophical discussion for now...


Anyhow, despite my long list of things I miss, it's not to say however, that there aren't cool, exciting things here or cool, exciting things that I am looking forward to trying. And it's also not to say that there aren't things that I definitely don't miss in L.A. But I won't mention those. :)

With that, today's theme song: