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.

I was dangerously close to spending the whole day indoors and wasting a very rare opportunity to NOT be at work. I was lying in bed at 2pm wasting my time on nonsensical crap when Kelly calls asking for a favor. She needed to crash at my place since she can't drive back home to Long Island because of the snow storm. I told her I'd meet her at Union Square then I jumped off of bed and showered, got dressed and zipped up my dandy waterproof snow boots. I am so glad to have the opportunity to wear those again. I was getting worried it was useless getting them since we haven't been having a lot of snow lately. Well, we had a very very very thick layer of ice on the roads today. It's been snowing nonstop since I got off work last night so everything is nice and white.

I took the Q train to Union Square since it ran on the Manhattan Bridge as opposed to taking a train that ran underground. I wanted to see how bad the blizzard is over the water. It was so bad that I can't see anything beyond the Brooklyn bridge. I could barely see the bridge even, just a faint outline and the Manhattan skyline was totally invisible amidst the pouring snow. On an average day, you would never see me out and about on a day like this but my days off have been unpredictably seldom lately and I didn't want to spend my one free day indoors.

I got to Union Square and saw a few people milling about. Some kids were having snowball fights, some parents were with their kids making snowmen in the park and there was a group of guys still hungover from the Superbowl playing a freezing game of football in the snow.
I've been very unlucky with jeans this week. All three of my work jeans have ripped which forced me to buy three pairs today. I decided to go the cheap route and head on over to Old Navy. Kelly said I should just keep wearing the jeans since ripped is supposed to be a "style" anyway. I told her I agreed, but not when the tear is on the inner thigh crotch area. All three pants had the same rip. My mom says it might be due to all the machine washing. Kelly got so excited about the major clearance sale they were having and couldn't help gushing over the 8 tops she got for only $18.

We walked on over to Dallas BBQ and since I only had that soup this morning, I was so hungry I ordered a caesar salad (which was humongous btw) plus a bbq ribs and honey roasted chicken combo with corn bread and yellow rice. Kelly only had half a bbq chicken with rice, corn bread and corn on the cob but I wiped my plate clean while she pushed her food around halfway through the meal and eventually gave up. She did, however, have three goblets of long island iced tea while I enjoyed a single serving of strawberry frozen margarita.

We got home and watched 50 First Dates with Caitlin while Kelly finished off the remainder of my bottle of Riesling (I swear that girl is an alcoholic, and she knows it too). I chatted with my mom a bit on skype and here I am lying in bed not doing what I'm supposed to do, which is finish Benny's postcard flyers for his show in April.

Ok fine I'm gonna do it now...

*****

On a completely separate note, Neil Gaiman is celebrating his blog's 9th year by having blog readers post a photo of them with the number 9. Let's see if you can find me here. Hint: photo was taken by Jammi during my last TPC shoot.

Oh and OMG, Neil has an awesomly sick house:

the house and his dog, Cabal

I knew there was going to be a snow storm today so last night I bought all the items I needed to make my lunch for today. I wanted a good, hearty winter soup and I had a lot of red beans available on hand. I wanted to make use of those before they wrinkled up and died.

For anyone who wants a good hearty soup on a cold day, try making this and enjoy it with good crusty bread. It will surely warm you up while you watch last night's episode of Lost. :)

Red bean and Kale Soup
1 1/4 cup dried red beans soaked overnight, or use a can of it if you prefer
1 med potato, peeled and cubed
1 med carrot, peeled and cubed
1 cup chopped celery
4-6 kale leaves, sliced
1 large tomato, diced
1 small shallot, or onion, sliced
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 can vegetable broth
2 cups water
2 sausages of your choice, cut into small cubes (I used a roasted garlic and herbed chicken sausage)
1 Parmesan cheese rind (what for?) - I call this the magic ingredient
salt and pepper to taste

optional: top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese before serving

Saute the shallots in olive oil until clear, pour in the vegetable broth, water, parmesan rind, beans(drained), tomatoes and sausage. Toss in your herbs. Bring to a boil then lower heat. Simmer for an hour. Throw the rest of the veggies on the last 15 minutes. Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese and devour.

I personally use my handy dandy pressure cooker and cook it for 15 minutes. All that contained heat brings out the flavor of the rind and the sausages which makes for a fantastic soup. Plus it cooks at a quarter of the time which is great for someone who doesn't have a lot of time.

You can make this in a slow cooker too. Throw all of the ingredients in the cooker when you wake up in the morning. You can do your chores and whatnot as it cooks for a few hours and you'll have your soup ready for lunch.

serves: 4-5

No access to parmesan rind? Throw in a cube of chicken/beef (depending on the kind of sausage you use) or vegetable bouillon. Cmon, I know you want to...

YESTERDAY:

It's true. The temperatures have been morbid lately. But despite the weather, Mica and I trudged up to the upper west side to enjoy lunch at Bar Boulud. We took advantaged of the seasonal $24 3-course meal. But us sassy girls each had to get a $14 mimosa and a $4 cup of coffee each, do the math and we pretty much racked up our bill to twice we would've paid for. Oh well, meals at Daniel Boulud's restaurants would only happen twice a year so I guess we were entitled to a little bit of luxury.

We were so full after lunch that we needed to walk it off. Met up with Kendra and we strolled Central Park. It was a cold day but not windy so it was good for walking. We went past strawberry fields to see the small John Lennon memorial.
I've never been to the Bethesda Fountain. The name might not ring a bell but believe me you've seen this in a LOT of movies and TV shows.
We went passed Wollman Rink (Ging, sa Serendipity toh...)
Then we headed back down to the West Village to meet Mica's friend Aisa. I went back to Murray's to get a quarter block of another one of Louiie's cheese recommendations, the Truffle Tremor. It was THE SHIT, btw. I liked this one better than brillat savarin although that was good too. The Truffle Tremor had a flavor that lingered in your mouth long after you've eaten it but not in a bad way. But like the savarin, it was pricey, at $24/lb.

We bought this organic rustic bread (i dunno, Mica chose it) from Amy's Breads and picked up a couple of items from the grocery plus a bottle of Malibu Rum for dinner. We got home and made tomato basil and mozarella bruschettas and garlic anchovy pasta along with a bottle of house red wine from Cipriani where Caitlin (new roommate) works. We proceeded with our planned inebriation by enjoying glasses of Malibu Pineapple as we watched Leap Year and A Knight's Tale in the living room.

TODAY:
I woke up and read Tita Chon's facebook wall message asking me to make cookies for Omar's birthday party on saturday. I immediately got off bed and went out to buy ingredients. I decided to make red velvet cupcakes along with the cookies since Omar loved the ones I gave them for Christmas. I spent the afternoon baking (while watching St. Elmo's Fire, go eighties brat pack!) and could not understand, for the life of me, why my cupcakes would not rise and just looked wrong. I blamed the shortage of flour and vegetable oil for the sorry looking cupcakes. I kept thinking how, having done these for so many times, could I get this one batch wrong. As I was cleaning up and putting my ingredient's back on the shelves, I realized my mistake. In small containers I bought from IKEA, I kept some of my powdered ingredients. What I thought was baking soda had been CORNSTARCH so that's why my damn cakes wouldn't rise! I will make another batch again tomorrow since I just found out today that Omar's guest have risen to 40 children PLUS parents/guardians so I need to have enough for everyone by Saturday.

I went to Queens today to take the Elabdouni's out to dinner. Ate at Enjeline's and had bistek tagalog, chicken adobo, daing na bangus, and kare kare. I also went to the Phil-Am store and scored myself pan de sal, leche flan, lucky me instant sotanghon (I missed these!), plus a bunch of other goodies.

I'm still so full from dinner but the leche flan in the fridge is calling me...let me go answer it.

Woke up this morning and I grabbed my iPod touch, checked Facebook (like I do every morning)

and read status updates saying it was snowing. I stood up, pulled back my curtains and smiled. It was so pretty outside.

viewed better when seen larger. *click*

This season is a lot different from last year. We didn't get as much snowfall as we did last December-February. I remember sludging through a lot of ice before and now I feel there was no point in buying my new snow boots since I hadn't needed to use them as much as I thought I would.

Today, I will have a date with myself. I plan on (finally) heading over to the MOMA to see the Tim Burton exhibit, which I've been wanting to see for months now. I've been postponing the trip for so long and I don't want to miss it like I did with the Kandinsky exhibit at the Guggenheim. I may catch a movie afterwards, maybe see Legion then walk around looking for a good place to eat depending on where my feet take me. I love walking around in New York. Getting lost is not always a bad thing in this city.

Now who wants to visit me next?

Big snow storm today. A lot of people were given the day off including me. Only I managed to read Lily's text telling me to stay home when I was already on the train to the city. I jumped off just before the doors closed and walked back home. I took the opportunity to go to Queens to visit Omee. We went sledding in Astoria Park! FUN FUN! I would have gone for more rounds if my toes weren't suffering from frost bite.

We had Vietnamese dinner and I did a quick round of shopping at the asian grocery next door to the restaurant. I hauled my goodies back to Brooklyn...an hour and a half trip by train! I took a quick nap in the train and was pleased to see a lot of people didn't have work so the train was not cramped as it always is.

We've finally set the date for the housewarming party and I even made a facebook event page for it. Cinareer ba naman ang invite?!?

How I wish you all could come!

Attended the WD/YWD Kick Off meeting yesterday at the culture center. It's my first meeting since joining SGI and everything that was shared yesterday had a whole new meaning for me. There are some things Linda Johnson said yesterday that I've also heard a few times from some SGI members that I'd like to share.

Buddhism reminds us that we're already perfect. Everything we need to be happy and be fulfilled in our lives is already in us. It's simply a matter of bringing out your inner buddha.

Happiness is found in the journey and in your struggle to reach your goal.

more photos

Had lunch with Miyuki, Tita, M, Leah, Jennifer and Eileen at Saigon Grill after the meeting. I wish I wasn't running late for work so I could have enjoyed the awesome food better. I scarfed down my meal and 15 minutes before my shift, grabbed a cab at Union Square and told him to step on it. I got to work in 10 minutes only to have Lily tell me to not rush next time and simply call her if I'm running late instead of spending for a cab. Pfft. Oh well.

Weather report said there was supposed to be a snow storm yesterday. It did snow a good part of the day but it ended just before night fall to be replaced by a light drizzle. This caused the thin layer of ice that accumulated on the streets to become wet and slippery. I had to take extra care skiing on the sidewalks going home. I witness no less than 5 people embarrassingly fall on their asses. We also had a little incident at the restaurant last night. A homeless man came in demanding that we call 911. He wanted to be taken to a hospital because it was too cold to sleep outside. He smelled like a really bad public bathroom and stank the place up. Lily and the owner gave him food and nicely asked him to leave but he refused. Richard had to get the cops to come pick him up before he finally left. That entire ordeal was sad but it was a place of business and it had to be done.

I'm supposed to watch Mica dance today at 2:30pm but I think I will stay in for once and spend time with my Omee boy. I've been feeling horrible every time he looks at me with his puppy eyes and says "You're going out again?" I haven't spent an off day at home for weeks. I need to do laundry anyway. Although I might make a quick trip to Brooklyn to get my pasalubong from Ana's house. Poy said my mom sent stuff for me from Manila and I want to see if she got me more than I asked her to get. I miss cheap manila items.

Finally got the snowman pictures from Tita Chon's camera. The snow has since, melted and we're currently enjoying a warm(er) 47 degree weather. It's sunny out and the sky is a clear blue. From my bedroom window, I can see there's a slight breeze blowing through the branches of the naked trees.

Omar scolding Steve about smoking

Our quiet street on an icy night

Today was morbidly slow. As in MORBID tsong. I think we only had 5 dine-in customers by 8pm. It was pathetic. At first I didn't want to believe that we were slow because everyone was doing last minute xmas shopping but during my break, I decided to take the subway to Union Square and found it to be overflowing with people! The holiday market was sardine packed with Christmas shoppers. The surrounding stores were also overflowing with people! I wanted to buy a winter hat but I couldnt find one in a color and fabric I wanted. I also wanted to buy a shirt from Forever 21 but the line at the register was ridiculous and I only had one hour for break.

By 8pm, Paul asked me if I wanted to go home early. He offered to stay till closing if I wanted to go ahead. I told him he could go instead and I was willing to stay since I was already given an off day yesterday and will be off again tomorrow. I couldn't stand the idea of missing the money I will lose by working less hours today after having lost hours yesterday. I need all the money I can save up now if I'm to ever find an apartment. Then Lily pointed out that today was a Saturday and therefore trains and busses will be less frequent than usual by the time I'm off by 12:30am. I also remembered I have to be up early tomorrow because, ahem, I have to be at the SGI center by 10pm for the Filipino meeting, hehe. So I took Paul up on his offer and went home. It was a quick ride back to Astoria and I didn't have to wait too long for the bus. Since I saved $8 by not taking a cab this time, I decided to spend it on two slices of pepperoni pizza for dinner. I walked the rest of the 12 blocks home, plodding through the cold sludge. My toes felt swollen and cold and I could no longer feel my feet. My legs and knees were frozen and my ears stung from the wind. I relished in the suffering and even preffered digging my boots into the snowy part of the sidewalk rather than walk on the shovelled pavement. It was horrible and I loved it...because I AM LIVING LIFE.

They're no good in the cold but they keep my feet dry.
Good enough for now.

I checked to see if Steve the snowman was still alive but was sad to see that he was gone. I got home and tried catching Omar's attention by throwing snow balls at the living room window. I spent the rest of the night grooming my little boy's toe and fingernails and watching cartoons.

*Updated*

Ben called me just as I was heading out the door to take the rest of the day off. Snow was falling down hard and he says he doubts anyone else would be coming in to eat today. So I went back to my room and peeled off the layers of clothing I had put on for warmth. A few hours later, I was hungry and too lazy to make anything. I knew I had to go out anyway to buy waterproof rubber boots since weather report says snow will continue over the next few days. The rest in the video below.

Later at night, Omar and I went out to the back and had a snowball fight. I tried making a snowman, pero dahil nanggaling ako sa Pinas at walang experience gumawa ng snowman, hindi ganun kaganda ang nagawa ng lola mo. I still think I did a fairly decent job for a first timer. Tita Chon says we made a midget snowman. I couldn't make it any bigger than knee height (my knee!). Omar named him Steven. I hope I still see him standing by tomorrow.

I didn't get snowboots since those cost a bit more money than I was willing to spend at the moment. Instead, I got rubber rain boots that at least kept my toes dry. It didn't do much in terms of warmth after running in the snow for a while. I may have to wear double socks for that. We took photos using Tita Chon's point and shoot but the memory card doesn't fit in my reader and I can't find the camera cable so I can't download and show you. Too bad. I wanted to show you guys my snowman.

I woke up and without looking out the window, I opened my mac and proceeded to check craigslist again. I layed on my bed for the next 30 minutes until I decided to get myself cereal for breakfast. When I walked back to my room, I glance outside my window and see snow! I fully open the curtains and see that it's merely a small drizzle. I ignore it. I have coffee and cereal and sit down and watch the last 30 minutes of POTC: At World's End while painting my nails. Tita Chon calls and tells me to borrow some of her coats in the closet for work. I was half-thinking I didn't really need it until I glanced outside again. Wala na akong makitang daan.

The difference in the video below was taken 30 minutes apart. The snow has no signs of stopping and only looks like it's getting stronger. Fan-bloody-tastic.