Joannie^21.0

[Mood | Excellent]

It's already a lazy Sunday. Laying in bed uploading pictures, blogging about my adventures and listening to music.

The last time I wrote was the middle of May... well my birthday came and went. Thanks to everyone that came to the dinner, you guys totally rock. Some other stuff happened, but it's done and I'm over it, so I won't mention it here. I'm just glad that, for me, I have a strange ability to move-on from things that seem to cause me a lot of problems!

Now I've met a whole new group of friends - we have those that I've met at Five Points Variety Hour. Joanlie has been doing performances all over the city, and one of them includes this variety hour. It's in Chinatown and it's run by some really cool people. The show itself has its high points and low points, but overall it's not too shabby. Joanlie was the featured artist a little while back, and we had a pretty packed room.

Albert, the host, invited us out to a game night which we decided to show up to after serenading Ian through webcam. We met a lot of really cool people through that, and now the rest is history!

My parents showed up randomly during Memorial Day Weekend (I forgot about that). I got a new mattress. I bought a white noise machine to help me sleep (which is AMAZING btw).

I've held impromptu parties, threw my first happy hour (which was VERY successful when 15+ people showed up)... We went to Loreley Biergarten. At first it was Kent, Ivan and myself, then slowly others showed up. First Greg, then Will & Wini, then Joanlie, then Mike and so on. It was a great time because we left VERY late.

I'm throwing my next happy hour this week on Wednesday. Thursday Joanlie is performing. I don't know what I have Friday. Saturday is Tom's surprise party (which he knows about) and Sunday is a puppy shower. OH NO! I have to get a puppy gift :)

This week was relatively packed. I had a lot of work to do, and I got my intern. I watched Yo-Yo Ma on PBS since it was too wet to go see it live. Also checked ou the LeSportSac sample sale, which was awful (because I couldn't find the bag I wanted!). Then there was Tova's happy hour, game night. Friday was quiet, played with Ellie, had dinner with Lisa, Ning, and Christine. Then out to the rooftop with Joanlie, Will and Albert.

So much name dropping... I should make a chart.

230 Fifth was REALLY nice!!! I had a good time just chatting with people, chilling and chatting. The music was nice and quiet. I don't know if I'd go there to meet people, but in small groups it's ok. Last night I went to Pranna. It was much too loud for my taste. The downstairs area was much more quiet and much better to hang out and just chat.

Oh I forgot, I went to the Big Apple BBQ! I've been waiting for it all year and it's finally here! YAY! Had a delicious time and I hope to go back for dinner. :)

Looks like I've had a busy month.

~Joannie~
[Weather | Rainy]
[Listening | "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse]

Labels: new york

[Mood | Tired]

This month has been pretty crazy. A lot of things have happened. Things I don't want to bring up or remember, things I do want to discuss and remember forever. It's been a crazy rollercoaster and thank you for joining me for the ride.

Anyway, thanks to everyone that came out for my party at PS450. Despite the less than expected turn-out, everyone that I wanted to be there (that were in town) showed up. Thanks guys! I had an awesome time. Thanks Ran and Reva for the champagne in my fridge. Thanks Cat for the Strawberry Fields. Thanks Christine for the fondue! It was awesome! Thanks John for showing up early and letting me have tons of your mojito. Thanks Joanlie for being my rock and keeping me sane throughout the whole event (hahaha, outside of PS450... especially). Thanks Eugene and Derek for their antics with the whiskey bottle.

As for karaoke, I always love Eugene belting his heart out, but Joanlie and Ran are divas. They know what they want to sing and they know how to sing it!!! Great job guys, sorry for cutting off one of your songs Ran!! Next time we'll know how to work the machine.

Overall, awesome night. Sad that it's over, but glad that I still have my actual birthday to look forward to!!!

~Joannie~

Labels: new york

[Mood | Happy]

To Dearest Roo,

I have crammed in more things with you in the past 7 days than I have done in the past 2 years in NYC. We walked the Brooklyn Bridge, ate pupa, stayed out until dawn, rowed boats in Central Park, went to the top of the Empire State Building, met random people and had dinner with them and also I spent some time with the floor last night.

It's been an amazing week. I have been happy, sad, hyper, (slightly) drunk, thrilled, horrified, full (very full), and just all around thankful for awesome friends!!

Let's see, we'll start with our first day. Our lovely meal at Clinton St. Baking Company where we had pancake and various other delicious foods. We even had room for a cupcake from Sugar Sweet Sunshine! Then we went shopping in SoHo. Our night ended with me buying a ton of stuff from Trader Joe's and then we came back and made food in my apartment to prep for my housewarming. The night ended going across the street to Metro Cafe (which happens to be owned by Asians...) and then back to my apartment.

Day 2 was my housewarming party. You can refer to my previous entry. The night ended with you [Roo] passing out on the couch, only to wake up hours later. We ended up going to Times Square and walked around 5th Avenue. Then we decided to go to Pegu Club with Kelly and Co. I ended up accidentally locking myself out of my apartment, but thank goodness for Thomas and his ability to get into the office and get my spares. That saved the day! We went to Pegu Club and basically closed down the place -- when we left, we were basically the last people there. We decided to go to ktown to eat, but Bonchon (Mad for Chicken) was actually already closed. So we ended up at some hole in the wall Korean restaurant that had fishing nets all over the place. We ended up ordering... PUPA... See the picture on the right for a truly disgusting image of the food we ate. I mean seriously, they were little bugs and I ate a few. Now, if they were good, I would say they're good, but no, they were not good. We also had fish cakes and mussels... it wasn't fresh at all and not very tasty. I am never going back there...

Day 3 we went to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was my first time and it was a gorgeous (but slightly chilly day). We ended up waiting in line at Grimaldi's. Afterwards we went to the park between the Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge then took the train back. We were pretty exhausted, so we just crashed on my couch and relaxed.

On Day 4 I took a half day and we went to Shake Shack for lunch and then off to Central Park where we ended up renting a row boat! I hadn't rowed a boat in a really long time, so it took a little bit to get used to it, but after awhile it was super fun. The pond is actually quite large. so you can get far in the rowboat. We saw some turtles and decided to take a few pictures next to them. There was also a really strange bird that just stood there with it's wings spread straight out. Maybe trying to attract a mate? Who knows. Afterwards we went to Bloomingdales and walked around that area. I was still pretty full from dinner, and I really can't remember what we did afterwards.

Day 5 we went to eat at Cafe Habana and then shopped around SoHo again. Then we made our way up to the Empire State Building. We were lucky that there was no line. The view from the top is really nice, but really pricey actually. $18 for just floor 86 and then another $15 for floor 102. You [Roo] kept hearing random German everywhere. Apparently there were a lot of Germans at the Empire State Building that day... discussing cream... and whipped cream... random.

After that we went to the Yelp party for the month. Met some really cool people, including some new friends we went to dinner with. Seemed really chill and interesting. We ended up at Jeollado, which I had never heard of until that day. It was pretty good, and very empty. We were the only patrons.

I had a full day on Wednesday, but after work we went to Almond to meet up with Lisa, Tom, Ning and Lisa's co-worker. I will never take a Patron shot without eating ever again. I went back to my apartment to get my phone and I ended up laying on my floor because I just couldn't pick myself up. I love spending time on my floor... I swear. Never Patron. Never again.

Thursday was your [Roo's] last day. We didn't get to do much. We ate at Roberto and then went to Magnolia. I'm glad you got to do almost everything you wanted to do and I hope that you come back soon!!!

Miss you and your crazy antics!

~Joannie~
[Weather | Chilly]
[Listening | "I Don't Wanna Know" by Mario]

Labels: new york

[Mood | Happy]

On Saturday I had an excellent housewarming. Everyone (except Drew -- boo on you Drew!) showed up and saw my new apartment!

Roo and I started making all the food on Friday night -- Baked French Toast -- Ham and Cheese Casserole -- Triple Berry Trifle -- Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies. Going to share some of the recipes here.

The Baked French Toast (recipe) looked really good, but I actually didn't try any at all! I have no idea how it tasted. There was a lot left, so I'm really sorry if it didn't taste as good as it looked. The berries were my idea, it was supposed to have a praline topping, but unfortunately I decided not to make it (particularly because pralines are kind of expensive and not good up in the north -- gotta get those southern pralines from Georgia).

The next thing I made was the Ham and Cheese Casserole (recipe). Essentially I used pancetta instead of ham and the cheese was just mixed Italian cheese. I wanted to use gruyere, but in the end, gruyere was a little too expensive so I stucked with packaged shredded cheese. There was a little too much thyme, I would cut out a few teaspoons next time.

Roo helped me make the Triple Berry Trifle. Now this is a secret Martha Cook Building recipe so I can't release it to the public (jk, just email me if you want it). It turned out great despite some of the problems we had along the way (not enough milk in the pudding - which we corrected - and really syrupy fruit - which we drained). Anything with pound cake, pudding, fruit and whipped cream is always delicious. I should make miniature versions the next time so that we'll have individual portions. Although, my trifle dish is coming in handy more often than I thought it would. (Woo! A solid investment!)

The last thing I made on Friday night was the Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies (recipe). The recipe itself called for toffee chips as well, but we decided to forgo the toffee chips because Roo and I both don't like toffee. These cookies were AMAZING! Roo can attest to how yummy they were because she practically ate a dozen of them.

Overall everything was really easy to make. The next day just called for stuffing it all in the oven and by the time people arrived all the food was ready. I also had bagels and lox, and Christine helped by making me a lovely strawberry feta and spinach salad (THANK YOU SO MUCH CHRISTINE!!!) Jon brought me two pineapples and Thomas brought two canteloupes. Lisa and Tom brought a bottle of red wine and Ning a bottle of white wine. Kelly bought me some lovely lilac/hydrangea hybrid flower. (I could almost swear these are lilacs, but Kelly told me they were hydrangeas, I have no idea anymore). Joanlie brought me some really pretty spider mums (chrysanthemums). At this point we had ran out of vases, so we were on our way to using wine bottles as vases. I think I need to buy a few more vases because of how much I love fresh cut flowers in the apartment. They just make me so happy...!!! I had a potted set of lilies in the apartment, but they had peaked awhile back and were already losing their petals so they weren't looking so great. I was glad to get some fresher flowers into the apartment. Greg brought me some more lilies which I had to empty out even more wine bottles (yeah... we were drinking a lot.. I mean...) to hold all the flowers. I love really do love lilies, but I just wish they'd last longer before they peak. I think I'll have to get a window box.

Now I have tons of flowers in my window enjoying the sun and so that people in the street can... enjoy them as well! I think I'm going to buy cut flowers every week just to "beautify" my apartment (and for my general happiness).

Overall it was an awesome day. It completely pooped Lindsay out (she passed out on my couch holding my hippo for 2 hours), but even after that we managed to go out (in which we did not return home until 6am...) Yes, after the housewarming I went out and didn't return home until the sun was up. I haven't done that in ages.

Anyway, THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR AN AWESOME HOUSEWARMING! My new home is very very "warm" now and I love it! Thanks and please visit any time!!

~Joannie~
[Weather | Nice]
[Listening | "Every Breath You Take" by The Police]

Labels: new york

[Mood | Hungry]

Yes, I do particularly enjoy eating. Although you can say I'm not particularly picky. I know what tastes good and what tastes bad, don't get me wrong, I think my taste buds are pretty refined. I am willing to try (most) things at least once.

For me, food has always been an adventure and Taiwan is my adventure heaven.

I come from a long line of family members who are well-trained home cooks. My grandmother being excellent at traditional dishes -- Taiwanese, Chinese & Japanese. Plus ,y mother, a one-time chef (at a ... country club...) who learned from my grandmother, is probably one of the best (Chinese/Taiwanese recipe) home cooks I know. It's always been a struggle for me to match their excellence. Mainly because I probably inherited any cooking skills from my father's side (aka none). Then again, my father's side has several restaurant owners.

Where does that leave me?

Yes, I do particularly enjoy eating. I think I'll probably be more of an eater than a cooking maven. I do want to learn, but patience in not my virtue. The new kitchen will be a great way to test my skills and we'll see where it takes me.

My thoughts are a little jumbled mainly because I'm starving right now. (Please feed me soon!) I can't wait to start off on my culinary adventures and I'll try to post as many recipes etc here. Hope this doesn't overrun my twitter.

~Joannie~
[Weather | Sunny]
[Listening | Nothing]

Labels: food

[Mood | Tired]

The day is here. This month I've thought a great deal about SBD. Probably more than I have in the past 2 anniversaries. I don't know why this year was any different. I was in New York last year as well, but somehow this year I found myself counting down to this date. Maybe it was because my moving day coincided with the date. Maybe it was because I found myself talking to old friends that reminded me of the past?

I'm not sure.

Today marks the 6 year anniversary of Serge's passing. I think my appreciation for everything in life has greatly improved since last year. I am grateful for all the wonderful people in my life, grateful for my luck in my awesome job, grateful for my amazing parents and grateful to be healthy and happy in the greatest city in the world.

Thank you Serge. When I think of you, I think about how much more appreciate the little things in life.

(I'd also like to take the time to apologize to any of my friends for any awkward/strange behavior... I just get into a rut in April)

~Joannie~
[Weather | Lovely]
[Listening | "Colourblind" by Counting Crows]

Labels: SBD

[Mood | Calm]

Do you ever get fixated on something and you just can't get that thing out of your head? I think this definitely happens to women more than men, but it's just bothering you and dragging you down during the day? (Oh and maybe even night?)

I think lately I've been more easily fixated on things than I would like. Moving is my #1 thing I'm fixated on. I'm obsessed with thinking about floorplans, decor, details. I keep mulling over everything in my head and it's driving me over the edge.

The second thing is figuring out if I'm ever going to finish my first novel. It comes and goes, but I'm always thinking about it on a sidebar. Lately more-so. I have about 4 projects in the works. I'm hoping to get a netbook soon so that it'll be easier to type up over writing in a notebook.

Finally, it's the whole New York single life scene. In the past few months I have gone from being in a sea of single friends to one of the only few left in the boat. Ian says he would take the crazy single NYers on any time because there aren't many quirky people in Detroit... but seriously? I'd rather take the consistency of Detroit over the madness that is NY any day (at least dating wise). There are no rules here, everything and anything goes, and no matter how much I try to make sure that my emotional quotient stays constant, it seems like something new is happening or is ok or is endured.

It's probably not very clear what I mean, but it's not really meant to be very clear. New York is filled with madness and it takes a lot of strength and willpower to ensure that the madness doesn't enter your own life or change who you are (for the worse at least).

If you plan on moving to NY, you better be an emotionally strongwilled person, or else, it may be the end of your former self.

~Joannie~
[Weather | Rainy]
[Listening | Nothing]

Labels: new york