They would be Niki, Awie, Chris and my faithful camera.

I spent my day indoors in bed watching the Lost series finale (finally!) and cried my eyes out. I shall not explain this further. Only Lost fans can empathize with me on this one.

The rest of the afternoon was spent chatting with Niki on Yahoo, Chris (Mazo!) on Facebook and semi-bantering with Awie on my FB wall. When all three decided it was time for them to go to bed, I headed out with one goal in mind: head over to Billy's Bakery and indulge in fabulous cupcakes! After that I headed towards Chelsea High Line park and armed with my trusty old rebel baby, captured some really nice photos from the park. I miss going out with my camera. When E asked me the other day how often I go out with my camera, I was ashamed to say I haven't done so in a while. Taking more photos being part of my goal for 2010, I plan to go on more photo walking trips over the next couple of months. The weather should be great from here on, with summer looming over the horizon.

Some of my favorite images from today:

This was such a candid moment that I stealthily had to take it.

After several shots of the plants with the sun behind me, I tried out using the light to outline the plants and they turned out wonderfully.

When the sun began to set, I headed up to Rann and Oli's apartment and hung out for a bit before heading home and making myself a crispy chicken salad for a late dinner.

Tomorrow is another day! If the sun is high, I shall head back to the west side and sun myself by the Hudson River Park and maybe grab an afternoon beer at Frying Pan.

I LOVE NYC.

With Michael being in the house as our official temporary honorary roomie, a.k.a. he's crashing in the living room for a month before he sublets Mica's room when she leaves for Tennessee for 6 weeks starting June, being vegan due to his allergy to anything dairy, we've been doing much less regular cooking in the house and I've been mindful of reading ingredient labels on items I bring home so I don't accidentally try to kill him by offering him toast (true story).

I had an all vegan dinner at momofuku a few days ago with that jar-of-pickles+shiitake-buns+ginger-scallion-noodle combo and it was fabulous.

Today, I've managed to recreate two of me and Mica's favorite dishes. The anchovy plate from Prune and the ginger scallion noodle from Momofuku. Did I succeed? Oh yes. Good enough for me to not need to venture out to the city when I'm craving for both. Now, if only Scott Bryan had his recipe for the organic roasted chicken online(along with everything else in his delicious yet expensive menu). I haven't had the opportunity to go back to Apiary yet. Lately I've been trying to cut back on the expensive meals. The man's a genius but a every time I eat there I spend no less than $50 for dinner. Meals in my own kitchen will have to be sufficient for now.

Ginger Scallion Noodle with quick pickled cucumbers and baby bella mushrooms in grapeseed oilMarinated anchovies with celery hearts and toasted almonds

Last Sunday, despite gloomy skies, I went out for a quick photowalk by the Hudson River with someone-we-shall-now-refer-to-as E. So E and I met up at B&H photo since he wanted to buy a 50mm before the photo trip. I ended up purchasing a light umbrella and a 32" 5 in 1 reflector, the latter I've been meaning to buy, the former is something I thought I could use for my makeshift studio. We walked towards the Hudson River and walked down until we ended up in Frying Pan. The place is named after the lightship that's also docked by the pier. It's basically a boardwalk equipped with seating and a stage for bands who play at night. It's a great place to sit and drink beers by the water. Coincidentally, Michael told me about this place just two days before, since he went there with a couple of friends and they were dancing in the ship's boiler room. He insisted that we had to go there and that day, E tells me it's also one of his favorite places in the city.





Full photo album can be viewed on my facebook. Not my facebook friend? Tough.

Now excuse me as I watch the Lost series finale.

Yes, babies. We walked 6 miles today taking photos along the way. We pretty much saw the greater Boston area on foot in one day. I can barely believe it. We had lunch at Boston Beer Works since Andy was really, really keen on trying the flavored beers (he had a Blueberry Beer). Ella and I were starving and we all shared a cheeseburger, pizza, clam chowder and tortilla with spinach and artichoke dip.


I have to say that Boston really is very much a cross between San Francisco and NYC with the exception that Boston is injected with lots of history, graveyards and historic chapels. Also, there seems to be an AWFUL LOT of Dunkin Donuts around. There's one in every other block! Rico (a friend who spent a few years living in this city while attending Berklee College of Music) just informed me earlier that it's mainly because Dunkin Donuts started right here in Massachusetts.

It's so much fun to finally be in the company of photographers again! I haven't had real awesome photos in a while and Ella took really good ones of me today.

Before heading back, we had beer at the oldest tavern in America, which we happened to find by chance despite Andy's attempt to locate it.

I've canceled my last night here at the hostel and will be staying with Ella and Andy in their hotel tomorrow night since we'll be in late after our road trip. Road trip you say? Yes! Tomorrow we're going to MAINE where I shall have my share of the best lobsters in the world! Yahoo!

PICTURES! PICTURES! PICTURES!

The words I planned to write about the preceding week have long gone but the photos are here and ready for viewing. I meant to write a lot. But the essential descriptions are written in the description section for each album and writing any more would only be redundant. Let's have the photos speak for themselves shall we?

So without further choo-choo, here are the albums:
Charades Night
Visit to The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Cafe Boulud Lunch
Cedar Beach, Long Island
Le Cirque Dinner
Brooklyn Flea Market Part Deux
West Village Food Tasting Tour
Louiie's Food tasting event

These are ONLY photos I have, there are more in Louiie, Angel, and Kelly's facebooks. Some of which were photos taken during the time I was working (mostly of Louiie and Kelly gallavanting in Chinatown).

I had one of the best weeks ever. I was soooooo sad to see Louiie go. There might have been tears there, I tell you. She will be back, I know it. SHE KNOWS IT.

Bonus Update! Death of a Lobster

Bea sent me this MMS photo today.

Georgie has gotten HUGE. I miss him.

Bleecker St during my break.

Carmine and Bleecker across Father Demo Square.

Father Demo Square during my break. I sat in the sun and read Neverwhere while snacking on expensive espresso/pistachio gelato from Grom ($7 for a "supposedly" large cup!!!). When I noticed tan lines under my skirt, I moved to the shade where this photo was taken. Empire State Building can be seen in the background. This will be the most sun-baked I can get for a while. Spending an hour sitting here on my breaks.

Finally took the time to check out Bleecker Street Records where they sold cd's, vinyl and posters. I came to look for an Empire Strikes Back movie poster (my favorite Star Wars movie) and found none but I got this poster for $10.

I named my printer DharmaPrint to add to my dharma family (DharMAC, DharmaHD, DharmaBud-the last two are my external hard drives). If you're wondering what is up with all the Dharma, well, I am a big LOST fan so there...

Printed photos when I got home from the intro meeting at the center. It took me a while to get the hang of printing my own photos since I've never done it before. But I'm glad I've finally replaced my vanity photos into real photographs.

Tomorrow I will print smaller ones for the lego frames I got from Pylones and the 5-sided cube frame that Mrs. Sison (TPC client) gave me before I left for the US.

I also discovered the postcard set I got from the Crumpler booth at the 2007 Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Its a full pack of postcards bearing artsy letters of the alphabet. I tacked four of them up on my wall above the bed.


I can't wait to buy more frames from IKEA and printing larger ones for the rest of the house. I am going to have my own gallery right here! Yahew!