Louiie,

Nakalimutan ko ang birthday mo. Well, not really. I know when your birthday is. I just didn't realize that today was the 7th already and I wouldn't have known it if you hadn't thanked people for their greetings on your FB status.

Does this make me a bad friend?

I did greet you though. I might be late in NYC time but you're still in Nevada time so I guess I'm glad you're on the other side of the continent.

B.runch, M.ovie and W.ork

Last night, I promised myself I wasn't going to waste another Saturday morning at home watching nonsensical crap on Hulu or surfing the web (a.k.a. refreshing Facebook about 50 times). When I got home from work, I found Mica in the living room reading and I invited her to go to brunch with me this morning followed by watching Alice in Wonderland before I had to go to work. I set my alarm, woke up this morning an HOUR after it rang. Caitlin woke up soon after I did and we invited her along for brunch. Went to Flatbush Farm since I was craving for their sausage gravy and buttermilk biscuits. I ended up ordering the Chorizo Stew and eggs instead, which freaking ROCKED btw.

meet our new roommate Caitlin
here's Mica overly salting her meal
(as she does with just about everything)

We checked out The Brooklyn Larder over on the next block to see what they had in store. I was disappointed to see they didn't have a wide collection of cheeses. I was hoping I didn't have to go all the way to the west village to get my cheese fix. I did, however, find these
I was not aware that Davao produced chocolate or cocoa beans good enough to merit a $10 chocolate bar. I love the packaging and it's pretty good too.

Mica and I headed to the cinema while Caitlin headed to the flea market. It was a good thing Mica and I went early because within minutes the theater filled up and were please to get good seats. The movie was a joy to watch although I guess you can't get anymore elaborate with it plot-wise since it's Alice in Wonderland. I was very much excited to see this since I've mentioned before that it's my favorite book of all time. I suppose since I was a child, I gravitated more to reading stories of fantasy that take me to places no one can go and people you will never meet. Which is also why I think I love Neil Gaiman so much.

Work was surprisingly busy. Last night was busy too so we expected tonight to be slow. It's rare that we get both Friday and Saturday full, it's usually one or the other but we had good luck this weekend.

I got home and was pleased to see Caitlin brought a bottle of wine home from work so Mica and I had a glass before bed. Quoting a line from Waiter Rant, "For waiters, your first drink is medicinal, your second is for relaxation and the third will anesthetize you."

I have another 12 hour day tomorrow so one glass is enough to put me to bed.

So I survived the trip, event and back home in my mary janes. I got a little lost when I got to New Jersey but eventually found the country club where the event was held. And OMG, can you say rich-ass-mansion?!? I felt like I was in a film. When I got inside, it was obvious I didn't belong there. The place was filled with old rich people in fancy suit jackets and expensive jewelry sipping martinis and glasses of wine. Vested waiters walked around offering guests hors d'œuvres in silver trays. There were tables set up on separate corners, each table offering different menu items. There was a sushi table, pasta table, chinese food table, etc. Me? Well I went straight for and attacked the cheese table. All I had this morning were the pancakes so I was hungry when I got there. Big mistake though, because Mica failed to inform me that dinner would be served during the show. I sat in front of the bar snacking on shrimp tempura, mini sweet potato and spinach turnovers, crab cakes among other things. I was right by the piano where a guy was playing the usual elevator music people play at these things. I look over at the pianist and who do I see? If you've been watching Late Night with Conan O'brien or his short-lived stint with The Tonight Show, you'd recognize him too. It was La Bamba from the The Max Weinberg 7. Mica says they have him and his other band every year. Last year was supposedly the last time since they were moving to California for The Tonight Show but since that gig fizzled and died, he's apparently back in the east coast.

When it was time to enter the main ballroom, I was the first one in since I wanted to get a good seat at my assigned table. The room was made up that it felt like I was in a mini version of the Golden Globes. When everyone was seated, waiters moved around asking everyone for their choice of entree. I had the filet mignon since it felt like the safe choice. The chicken, I thought might be too dry and the fish, I felt were simply thawed out frozen filets. The mignon was tastier than I expected but too dry for my taste. I couldn't finish my meal no matter how much I forced it. I had too much food from the appetizer tables already. There was a bit of dancing and Mica and the rest of the company performed two excerpts from their shows. Desserts soon followed and I was ready to skip it until I saw what it was, apple pie a la mode with chocolate dipped strawberries. I dug in immediately. I honestly couldn't breathe through my dress at this point and I was glad to be informed that we needed to leave soon to catch our train back to New York.

I don't have (decent) photos from tonight, just random snapshots from my phonecam. I sneaked a few shots while David, one of the company members, were teaching some of the guests to do a chinese ribbon dance, hence the ribbons of color.





Tomorrow is laundry day once again. I was hoping to do it much later since I now have an abundant supply of underwear and socks (I no longer run out of them as fast). Although now my problem is my laundry bag is now stuffed full with dirty clothes. One thing I hate about winter is how much layers you have to wear everyday, you end up using twice the normal amount of clothing.

Caitlin brought home a waffle maker the other day and I got so excited because I thought of buying one before. I woke up this morning and excitedly prepared the batter. However, my overly-excited-inexperienced-in-waffle-making self poured too much batter in the waffle griddle and within seconds, batter flowed all over the kitchen counter and down to the floor. Caitlin's waffle maker was a bit of a mess and I spent 30 minutes, scraping bits of batter off the corners and ridges. I conceded and ended up making my usual silver dollar pancakes, vamping it up a bit with crushed walnuts and sliced strawberries to compensate for my waffle disappointment.

I'm excited and nervous about tonight. I'm Mica's plus one to her dance company's benefit gala. I'm hopping on the New Jersey transit tonight all dressed up for a semi-fancy-schmancy event. People who've worked with me before at The Picture Company know that I like getting dressed up for work a lot. Since I've moved here, it no longer is the case. Being a waitress, my wardrobe now consists of 70% blacks tops and I wear my Nike Air Max 5 out of 7 days in a week. On my days off, I still avoid any shoe with heels higher than an inch because I spend most of the day walking. One time, I braved wearing a pair of 3-inch ankle booties and when I was rushing down the subway trying to catch the train, I slipped and fell, landing on my ass several steps down. I never attend things that require me to get a bit dressed up. I've been in jeans and sneakers the entire time I've been in NYC that my feet have forgotten that it used to be quite at home in heels. Tonight, I'll be wearing satin flats for my commute then change into heels when I reach the venue.

I just finished a pint of Haagen Dazs Butter Pecan. I feel somewhat bad having just finished all of it in one go but I can't deny that it was soooo goooood.

I just got myself so excited and salivating once again after my chat with Louiie regarding the itinerary for her short return to NYC. Well, actually, after I gave her the details, I noticed it wasn't so much of an itinerary as it was an eating schedule. All I really gave her were restaurant names I was gonna take her for brunch and dinner and on what days we were going. Seriously, my fascination with food is getting a little too much but I don't see the need to stop anytime soon. I will be taking her to my recent favorites (Apiary and Prune) but what I'm most excited about is our midnight trip to Kum Gang San (the korean BBQ place) after my shift on Saturday night. I just found out that the korean bbq place is open 24 HOURS! So I figured we'd go scarf down some beef and kimchi after my shift, which ends at midnight (if I'm lucky).

I'm currently reading Waiter Rant and am laughing my ass off (I don't care if I look like an idiot with my restrained chuckles while reading on the subway). That book is so incredibly hilarious and SO relate-able. If you have time to read, go and get it! If you've read Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, then what it did for your perception of kitchen behavior will be the same for your view of waiters. Really! It's sooo funny to me because everything I've read so far has happened to me!!! I'm not alone! Warning though, once you've read it, you shall be compelled to always tip your servers 20%, which is not necessarily a bad thing, and ensures excellent service on your future visits.

Ok, back to my book.