My weekends keep getting better and better. As mentioned in my Friday post, Vien made me a mussel dinner last Friday. The finished dish can be seen on the right. It was so good we did not have enough bread to mop up that yummy sauce.

We also had way too many Vietnamese bahn mis this weekend. We pretty much had one everyday from Friday until Monday. I think I'm taking a short break from those for a while.

Across the street from the bahn mi spot was this mural which was funny to me because my roommate's name is Caitlin.

Saturday was met with the first snowfall of this season. Usually, it starts with light flurries but that day, it snowed all day until late evening. It got so cold that Vien and I blew off three Halloween parties that we were supposed to attend and stayed in watching movies on Netflix.

 Snow on cars outside his bedroom window.

Halloween day was also moving day for Ana and Poy. I took Santi back to my apartment where we hung out with Vien while Ana, Poy and hired movers packed everything and moved all their stuff to the new apartment.

Later that day, Vien helped me while I took Santi trick or treating. He was such a cutie dressed up as Tigger. After an hour of candy begging, the three of us headed to Cornelius for Oyster Happy Hour. One year old Santi watched as his Nanny and her helper downed 18 oysters each with glasses of beer.

This is Vien when he was a baby. He hardly looks anything like he does today. This baby photo must be of someone else noh?

Monday night, I went out to see a Sandwich gig at the lower east side. I listened to them a lot in college and I was so happy to learn they were coming to NYC to perform. I got to see a few people from Manila I haven't seen in a long time and it was all very nostalgic and fun.

They let Rann play a couple of songs with them and he naturally ripped my ear drums off with his style of noise.

Sunday morning was met by a sudden craving for Pho and Vietnamese Iced Coffee. Vien was particularly craving them from one particular restaurant in Queens so we hauled our asses all the way from Brooklyn and braved through the mad subway service changes and track work being done over the weekend. About an hour and a half and 4 subway rides later, we were snarfing down hot bowls of pho and spring rolls with iced coffee. Very few words were exchanged while we nurse our hangovers with steaming, delicious broth.

After lunch, we hopped on a cab to go see Omar, who was expecting us for the day. As soon as we walked in the apartment, we were greeted by a tray of multicolored cupcakes with a special note attached...

Now Vien knows why Omar will always be my #1. 

We took him to go see Real Steel (which was blah and doesn't deserve more space in this post). The movie was followed by a quick dinner with Tita Chon at Jackson Hole Diner because Vien was craving for their huge 7oz burgers. 

Benny is back from his 3-week european tour so we met up with him and other friends for a drink before we called it a night.

Vien hung out with Santi and I the next day...

V looks extra chinky here because I pretty much forced him
to get out of bed to hang with us.

We missed the $1 oyster happy hour at Cornelius after work but that didn't stop us from ordering a dozen of them to share and enjoyed with a bowl of fries and beer. I must remember to go back there on a weekend so we can make it to happy hour and chug down a lot more of those. Yum!

I'm in MARTHA'S VINEYARD!!!

The trip was faster than I thought. I slept mostly through the 6 hour bus ride. I had my trusty air cushion travel pillow which has been with me since Sagada days. The ferry ride was short and scenic as we entered through "preppy white people" territory. I stuck out like a sore thumb on the ferry ride over, being one of the small minority of non-caucasians in summery clothes, fancy shades and summer hats. I had on jeans, chucks, thin jacket over cardigan over vest over shirt because Mica told me to bring cold weather clothes since it was supposed to be chilly. The sun was high and VERY hot and my armpits were steaming *mental picture!* I stripped off my outerlayers, stuffed them in my backpack and de-boarded the ferry to be met by Mica at the pier. We headed over to The Yard, where she's staying and where I will be crashing for the next 4 days. I was very, very hungry having only eaten a sausage, egg and cheese sammie from Au Bon Pain on my way to the bus terminal. I was on an island and demanded one thing and one thing only. I wanted SEAFOOD! FRESH SEAFOOD!


We dropped off my luggage and we borrowed two bikes and huffed, puffed and panted our way to Menensha Beach. The last time I rode a bike, I must've been 10 years old and despite having retained the skill of bike riding, I however, lost the stamina to pedal even slight inclines. I wanted to CRY. My knees felt like jelly later in the night and I had to walk the bike during several stretches of low inclined roads. I was pathetic.

I took some photos before we decided to skip over to the seafood shack by the docks where we ordered a dozen oysters on the half-shell, a bag of steamed mussels, clam chowder and steamed lobster. I was feeling pretty generous so I payed for our feast. It was I who insisted on seafood anyway.

more pictures here

We were pretty full after our meal (we left no edible part of that lobster undigested) but we headed to the beach and the pier for sunset photos and pedaled back to the yard.

There was a show going on in the yard's theater when we got there and we snuck in to watch it. It was a one man show titled Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: From Douglas to Deliverance by Andre De Sheilds. It was a pretty awesome show of the history of African Americans in America.

Tomorrow we'll have an early start beginning with Mica's dance class (the one she teaching) at 9am followed by a (hopefully) trip to the beach while the sun is still high in the sky. She was right, the cool wind that creeps in around 5pm starts turning into a horrible chill (think upper 50s) as soon as the sun starts to set. There will not be any swimming on this trip as I had previously hoped. Mica just reminded me that the movie JAWS was filmed here and nantucket. Also, shark season has begun as well. Only summer of last year, one was found near one of coastal beaches of the island and another one the previous year (click for video). Knowing this, the waters of MV will not be seeing me this year. I'll have to settle to just sunning myself in their powdery sands. If we have the energy and time, we will hit the towns of Oak Bluffs of Vineyard Haven (the fancy areas with the fancy houses, the fancy shops and the fancy people)