best memory: may

best memory: may

Flying across the day/night zone.

Walking through the arrival gates of Glasgow airport and finally seeing the boy after 4 long months. It wasn't a passionate oh-I-ran-into-his-arms-and-kissed-him-silly reunion, but thinking back about everything that followed that awkward yet familiar Hi again, it has to be the best memory of May.

why i'm on a mission

why i'm on a mission

There's a reason why I'm on a mission (to get my sexy back, duh) - New York. Come on, the city's so great they had to name it twice. (Okay, I stole this line from her but I thought it was pretty cool! I took a WHILE to figure it out. So.) Anyway, yes! New York! Lo and behold Internet, I came back with 5 extra pounds dangling out from my waistline.

But oh my tastebuds, the food in NYC was SO good. They always tell you that the shopping in NYC is awesome (and it is), the people in NYC are crazy (and some of them are), the subway in the city is even crazier (oh yeah it is) and Times Square will blind you and Central Park will charm your skirt off. But if I had to pick one thing to tell you about NYC, I'd tell you about THE FOOD.

Are you ready? Yes? Good. Take a deeeep breath. And here we go!

1. STREET MEAT

On the top of my list, we have street meat! You know those pushcarts along Midtown streets? That's what I'm talking about. Don't give me your UpperEastSider eew just yet. This is not any street meat. This is the street meat with a queue almost every single day. This is the street meat that will blow your mind.

Basically it's yellow rice with minced beef and minced something else. We didn't even bother looking. We just kept stuffing our mouths with that greasy good stuff. You can have it with their white sour sauce and/or chilli. Either way, it's just YUM.

Where? Corner of 53rd street and Broadway.

2. DOUGHNUT PLANT

You don't even have to be a huge fan of doughnuts to love this one! I know I know, that does not make sense at all - why would any non doughnut-lover to to Doughnut Plant? Wait till you hear what they've got!

Not only do these people do the BEST yeasty doughnuts ever, they do CAKE DOUGHNUTS! Can you even imagine that?? As if doughnuts aren't heaven on earth already, these people have it in cake form! I can't even begin to compare it with Dunkin' Donuts or Kripsy Kreme or Doughnut Factory. This thing is in a league of its own. It's part doughnut, part cake, part brownie and part heaven. No, I take it back. It's pure heaven.

You have to try this one. No, really. Even you, who don't even vaguely like doughnuts.

Where? On Grant Street, near Chinatown and Little Italy. Or, Google it.

3. RICE TO RICHES

The greatest thing about NYC isn't just the food. It's how the food at NYC changes your mind about the very idea of a certain food. It redefines. The cake doughnuts did that to me. And then Rice to Riches did the same thing again! This time, it's on rice puddings.

I know right, rice puddings. They don't even sound vaguely interesting or appealing or delicious. In fact, they almost sound downright yuck. But I saw it on the blog of the woman whose idea I stole about the name of NYC. Or specifically, this blog.

Anyway, I decided to give it a shot, because Sheryll and I were on a mission to try everything that a.) Sheryll thinks is good, b.) looks good, c.) the Internet says is good. And boy, did we pat ourselves on the back for walking 10 streets to find it! These people do their rice puddings like other people do icecream! They have it in so many different flavours, and even more toppings for us to choose from! And we just fell in love with the sassy decor and the lovely little tupperware in which the rice puddings were served in.

Where? Spring Street. Nolita.

4. AREPAS FROM CARACAS

I've never heard of arepas in my life, and probably would never have known that the pulled pork wrap thing that simply melted in my mouth was called an arepas until I got down to writing this and googled it. Sheryll brought me there after her cousin Mel brought her there. So, when you get to NYC, please bring yourself there!

It's an awesome little place that will have you stand at the door for ages just to get in at meal times. And no, I don't think they take reservations, unless you venture all the way to their other outlet in Brooklyn. Or, you can simply try the takeout room, and while waiting for your order, you might just get a seat.

Where? East Village, Lower East Side.

5. CUPCAKES

Everyone will tell you to try the cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery. And because everyone else has probably already done so, I'm not going to do that. Instead, I'm going to tell you to go try the cupcakes at Butterlane as well.

Like Magnolia, Butterlane offers only 2 or 3 flavours for their cupcakes. But they have some 15 different flavours of cream toppings to choose from! If you can't make up your mind, you can even have a cream shot! You know, tequila shots, espresso shots, same concept, but with cream. Haha. For the diehard cupcake cream lovers!

Where? East Village, Lower East Side. (Great dessert to the arepas!)

~

And that's only my Top 5! I really don't wanna be guilty of limiting your time to NYC to just foooood. Haha. BUT if you REALLY wanna know, we've also had an astonishing number of meals in Chinatown. Oh, and the Chinatown in NYC is not just any Chinatown. In fact, it's so Chiense (or rather, Canto) that I got a greater culture shock there than in Times Square!

But the food, oh the food. Especially if you're missing home food, Chinatown will make you drool all the way to Queens. And if you're lost about which ones to try, go for these: Dai Wong for the best charsiew and Yogee (on Chrystie St) for the beef noodles.

Oh gosh, New York, I miss you already.

best memory: april

best memory: april


Staying up the whole night on a sleepover at Nat's, just so we can have breakfast at Chez Cora at 6am. Or maybe the other night, when we walked out for coffee at 2am, thinking about how we're gonna miss this place and all its little wonders.

keeping my sanity

keeping my sanity

Why clowns, Fellini, WHY?

(Maybe if I tried looking like one, I might know better, you think?)

This is how I keep my sanity through all-nighters. My skin has obviously been very unhappy with my late nights and lack of care in general. I left all my masks and whatnots in Singapore, and never really bothered.

The onslaught of exams sent me on a spree for facial products. Now I even have a schedule for masking and exfoliating! The skin looks visibly happier, and so am I! Yayy. :D

the perfect spring day

the perfect spring day

Yesterday, I did something that I've always, always wanted to do while studying overseas. The weather was absolutely lovely. Sunny, clear, cool. It was the perfect spring day. The skies were blue, the new leaves on the trees were that fresh shade of light green, the people on the streets were smiling. Everything was simply great.

After having not stepped out of the house for 3 days over the weekend because I was trying to finish an overdue and particularly painful essay, I had to go out! I was even happy to go to school! And here's the best part - I checked my email just before I stepped out of the house, and found out that class was cancelled!

So Susheel and I made quick decision to go have an impromptu picnic on Mont. Royal. And study, because well, we are still students afterall. I quickly threw together some food, and off we went!

Oh, it was a gorgeous, gorgeous afternoon. The park was absolutely charming. It was so quiet and tranquil. You can hear the leaves murmuring in the breeze. You can hear wisps of the other picnickers' conversations. You can hear the squirrels scurrying around. And best of all, I could hear my own thoughts, some logical, rational thoughts on the articles I was reading, and other random, raw thoughts that bypasses reason.

I was so lost in the moment, until this little creature came right under my nose (literally) to ask for food! It was so bold, and very, very adorable. I was happily minding my own business when it walked right onto my notes, looked at me, and begged with its little paws for food. When I held the biscuit tight for a little bit just that I can get a photo of it, it start pawing at me just like Bubblez used to do! Aww. A very precious moment of park-going.

And then after I got tired of studying, I rolled off the grass and went for a jog. Outdoor air is so sweet. Plus, now I can say I've gone jogging on Mont. Royal! Oh fyi, that's probably the equivalent of "I've gone jogging in Central Park!" With less than three weeks left in Montreal, I want to enjoy as many afternoons as I can this way. I am going to miss this city.

always the people

always the people

I missed home for the first time today. It was not that I didn't miss home before that; I always do, but it's that kinda dull ache that lingers somewhere just below the surface. You know it's there, but it never surfaces to engulf you.

This afternoon, out of nowhere, it did.

No wait, perhaps it's not out of nowhere. I think I know where. It's from the new places I've been to. Yet there's nothing intrinsic about the cities that I visit that made me miss home.

It's the people I meet who have that effect on me. Sheryll was the first. 11 days in NYC with her made me realize how much I miss AC. The people you meet outside are different, not in the bad way, but just different. Sometimes it's a nice, refreshing kind of different. Sometimes it's a kind of different that you can't get around. It just isn't the same.

Then on the Easter trip, I met Pengfei at West Point. He's Sherlyn's boyfriend and Glenn's army buddy. We marveled at how small the world is when we went on a double date last December. Yet now, we're all apart. Now I really miss G.

And this morning, skyping with Mommy and Daddy over breakfast really did it in.

See, it really isn't so hard to start a new life in a completely new place; I was doing so well. Then you meet someone from home, and wham, everything comes back. Because it's always the people you miss the most.

With Sheryll, at Coney Island.

With Pengfei, at West Point.

And home is truly where the heart is.

conversation killer

conversation killer

So that day I was waiting for the metro and studying the Montreal map when some guy came up to me and said something in French. With the train coming into the station, I didn't hear him very well, and said "Pardon? Je ne parle pas français."

Then he switched to English and asked me if I was from Montreal and blah blah. You know, the usual conversation starters. And he told me more about himself - "I'm from Haiti."

And all my brain could think of at the moment was "OMG. Haiti. What do I say now? Is your family okay? Is your house still standing?" "But wait, what if it's not! How do I even begin to console a stranger on such a recent disaster? I'm not ready to handle a tragedy while waiting for the train! WHAT DO I SAY?"

So, all I said was, "OH. Haiti."

And him, "Yeah Haiti"

Me, "Hmm yeah."

Then him, "Do you know Haiti? Cos you look like... you don't know Haiti."

And me, abit too quickly, "Yes of course I know Haiti! I know Haiti."

Him, "Oh yeah, everyone knows Haiti now."

Then me, "Yeah I know Haiti."

And him, "So yeah. Haiti."

Me, "Yeah Haiti."

TALK ABOUT AWKWARD! I have so so sooooo glad when he moved on and told me how long he's been staying in the USA for before coming to Montreal etc etc. And then I realized he was being awkward because he thought I was being weird and didn't wanna talk to him. He was like, "This girl obviously speaks French because here she is telling me in perfect French that she doesn't speak the langauge!"

Hahaha oh boy. Yeah talk about awkward. I suppose I'm not the best stranger one could hope to meet on the metro, am I?

Meanwhile, I'm still working on the perfect non-idiotic reply to "I'm from Haiti." Or Chile. Or anywhere with a recent tragedy. So that the conversation doesn't end up being one itself.

best memory: march

best memory: march


New York, simply New York. And New York with one of my funniest friends? That was just amazing. We were terrible tourists, waking up at 12nn everyday and starting our days at 3pm. We ate all there was to eat in NYC, googled different random things every day, stayed up talking till 5am, took long walks everywhere, got lost in the subways and laughed and laughed and laughed about everything. Oh, and we did all the touristy stuffs too. Oh yes, I < 3 NY.

on a mission

on a mission

I'm missionary.

girlfriend tights

girlfriend tights


So I wore this pair of tights with my short (and now tight, cos I got fat) shorts out one day when I was in NYC. As we walking out of the house, I thought out loud to Sheryll that I look super skanky in this combination! Just as she was done with her consolatory line, and as we stepped out onto a porch, we met an ex-hippie who's now old and perhaps slightly cranky, but very cute.

She yelled to me "Yo GIRRRRRRRRLRIEND! Living it up yo! Naice tights ya've got dere yo! Yeaaaaaah GIRRRRRRLFRIEND!"

OHMAGAWD! I mean, I love hippies and all, and the old lady was cute BUT HELLO BEING HER GIRLFRIEND WASN'T THE LOOK I WAS AIMING FOR! Hahaha. Oh wells oh wells, I should have known they were indeed skanky.

In my defense, a teenage American walked past me on the boardwalks of Coney Island and told her friend "Hey I like her tights!" And Internet, you have NO idea how close I was to hugging her and kissing the life out of her. But but, I just smiled and yelled THANKS!

Yups, that was my moment of glory in the heart of the city of fashion.