7.30.05 - Kayaking and Bubby's!

Saturday broke bright and breezy. I had an appointment to meet Usa at 9:45 at the World Trade Center so we could go kayaking with Lori. I was pretty excited since I've never been kayaking in my life and also because Ricky kept telling me that I was going to fall into the water. I had packed an extra outfit and underwear just in case I do end up drenched in the muck that is the Hudson River.

I was only slightly late to my meeting with Usa (an improvement!) and we walked along the riverside from the World Financial Towers to Pier 26. The day was warm and slightly cloudly, the weather was perfect for being outdoors. We met Lori at Pier 26, signed our waivers and waited in line for our life vests. I ended up in a white kayak and was first to get in. So it turned out we were in kiddie kayaks, not the very challenging types that Ricky used to teach people to paddle. So there was absolutely no risk of flipping over. However, the entire inside of the boat was wet, so thank god for my extra underwear! The twenty minutes passed quickly, a little too quickly since we were having fun...that is until we saw the trash floating in the water. Not that it became less fun, but it took a bit of the romance out of the activity. When orange peels and empty bottle float past, it's hard not to be just a little disturbed that my behind was sitting in a wet puddle of...that water.

After changing out of our wet clothes, and hosing down with fresh water, we head over to Bubby's, a rather famous New York brunch location. We had to wait for at least 3o minutes for a table but the breakfast we had was well worth it. I had the Bubby's Breakfast with 2 eggs sunnyside up, toast, home fries, sausage and a slice of melon. The breakfast also came with bottomless cups of coffee and buttermilk biscuits. They provided homemade strawberry jam and butter, yummy! Usa had very interesting smoked tuna scrambled eggs, I had a bite and it was really excellent. Another successful CUBS event, I just love trying new restaurants!!

The rest of the day was spent back in Jersey City with more mundane things in life. We met with Usa, Ray, Euhan and Chris and Ann for dinner. Again tried a new chinese restaurant that Euhan recommended, homestyle cooking with many small dishes and most of them were great. We did order a little to much (15 dishes for 7 people), but Ray and Euhan managed to polish most of it off. All in all a very fulfilling Saturday.

7.29.05 - Manhattan Street Fair

There was a street fair right outside the CSFB building on Friday. This contributed to my lack of motivation at work. Plus, there really wasn't much to do, the weather was beautiful and there was Jamaican music coming though my window. Anyways, I had a Jamba Juice for lunch, took a leisurly stroll through the street fair and this is what it looked like from the window behind my little cube. The rest of the day, I smelled like kabobs, but that was a small price to pay to have been part of the festivities. I just love the atmostphere, both relaxed and busy, of a street fair in the middle of a work day!

That night, I persuaded Ricky to take me to a new restaurant. I had a craving for Japanese food and raided the internet for new sushi recommendations. In the end I decided to go to this new place called "Sui" asking Chinese for "water." It was close enough to Chinatown that if we went and decided not to go in (depending on the menu) we would still have the choice. After studying the really cool new rolls that they offered, we decided to go for it. It turned out to be quite good. The restaurant itself is funky, with big colorful fishtanks lining the walls. The most spectacular although less funky, dish was the sushi and sashimi combination. It sat in a big bowl of ice with a small bamboo wall as decoration. We also ordered a spider roll and an "under sea volcano" which consists of spicy tuna inside a roll with spicy salmon on top. Yummy!

7.28.05 - Lite Delights

I suppose it's a little bit funny when I am supposed to be on a diet (always am) but keep posting reviews of fine restaurants in the area, meaning, I eat too much. That must be why I keep being "on a diet" because it never really works.

So today, I re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-resolved to be serious about my diet. This always happens when I have so free time on hands and unfortunately the resolve often gets abandoned when I get busy. Oh, but this time is different...of course...

In any case, I discovered this health food joint near my office called Lite Delights. Great place, packed full of healthy, whole grain, low fat treats, which are suprisingly inexpensive. I tried the Nutriment the first time I went there and it was the most interesting sandwich I've ever had. Bananas, peanut butter and jelly, sunflower seeds, coconut strips all in between 2 slices of 7-grain bread. How could I complain? It was quite creative and yummy. Yesterday, I tried the Veggie Burger, a patty accompanied by lettuce, tomatoes and (of all things) alflafa sprouts! Again, it was quite good! But still...it was too much food, and I knew it.

So today, with my re-re-re-re-re-re-re-resolution, I have decided to go all juice for lunch. I had a blueberry shake, rich in antioxidants and other great vitamins as provided by fruit. All natural and made fresh. Next I wandered to Walgreens and bought some healthy snacks knowing that I would be hungry again later. I have resolved to go all juice all the way for lunch from now until school starts, who knows, there might be some hottie first years right?

My goal, fit into all my old skinny clothes by the time school starts (4 weeks or so). So there, it's official, wish me good luck!

I didn't take this picture, a good friend Anton did. This was the sunset in Bali as taken from the Ritz Carlton where we had our wedding. It's so beautiful I figured I'd share. 

7.25.05 - Black Fin Chophouse & 33 - Boston

My summer internship invited me to Boston to tour the headquarter, wining and dining the MBA's as they call it. We went to an excellent place for dinner called Black Fin. There I had the most amazing tuna steak I have ever had. The Director of the program had recommended the tuna as a famous dish at the restaurant and since I love tuna in the first place, I decided to go for it. I was not disappointed, seared rare, the tuna steak was sashimi grade, extremely fresh, generous and so yummy! The conversation was also interesting of course, but a networking dinner is a networking dinner right? :)

After dinner I met up with an old friend from DDB who also happened to go to Penn. Her husband goes to HBS and therefore she's working in Providence in a brand managment position. It sounds like she's having a great time! Here's a picture of 33, the bar that we went to for drinks. It's nice to see people I haven't met in so long!



I stayed at The Lenox Hotel, a historical hotel a block from the Prudential Tower. The hotel was just OK, its actually quite luxurious, but small so not the same as the big chains that I'm used to. I have no compaints though, it was comfortable and clean.

Overall the Boston trip was great. Relaxing and a lot of fun. A long needed break indeed!

7.24.05 - South City Grill

Ricky and I went to South City Grill for brunch on Sunday. We've been there several times, so strictly speaking, it should not be considered a CUBS event (especially since Usa was too busy sleeping to come!). BUT, they actually had a new brunch menu, so in a way, everything was new. I ordered the Poached Eggs Rosita, a very interesting dish. Lumps of crab were placed on top of 2 poached eggs with spicy (and it really was spicy) salsa, all in a crunchy taco shell. Hash browns on the side. It was actually really good and they did not scrimp on the lumped crab meat. Ricky had Eggs X3, which was delicious but he said he had stomach problems afterwards... eeck...

For the rest of Sunday, we went to Staples to buy some boxes for organizing knick-knacks. Ricky went to buy multi-plugs for our new study. Then we spent the rest of the day moving furniture around, the desk into the new study so we have 2 desks in one room. The closet into the master bedroom and we plan to move the book shelves downstairs into the dining area. It was a productive day!

7.22.05 - Congee City

We went to Congee City for dinner tonight, one of our favorites in Chinatown. The congee there is of course excellent, but besides that the other food is delish! One f our favorite dishes there is the garlic chicken( is always cooked perfectly, very moist. Yummy!

After dinner we came home and wanted to go out to move a movie. Unfortunately, on the way there our car tire got busted. We think it was because the tires were changed badly when we changed it last weekend. So tomorrow we have to go and try to negotiate with them and have them change the tires free of charge. Hopefully!

CUBS

Cece & Usa's Breakfast (Brunch) Series

So things are getting back to normal, slowly but surely the mundane will set in right? NO!!! Things are nuts! My internship is taking up a ton of my time. Today is the first day since I've started that I actually think I might go home on time. =)

To combat the boredom (that doesn't exist) Usa and I decided to start CUBS. In an effort to make the most of the New York metro area and the numerous restaurants that are offered, we made an unwritten agreement to meet for brunch every Saturday or Sunday at a new place every time. No rules to this Series besides that the restaurant has to be one that we had not been to in the past. I think it's going to be fun, and am quite excited!

The first weekend, last Sunday, we went to a quaint little place in Jersey City call Melt. It was suggested by Anne and Chris who had seen the restaurant featured on the Food Network. The specialty of the house is grilled cheese sandwiches. Everytype of cheese you can think of in combination with ham, turkey, bacon, hot dog or nothing (pure cheese). The food was great! I had what they called the Happy Jack with Monterey Jack cheese (among other things), de-licious!

Can't wait for the weekend to begin!!

Photographer's rendition of a picture that of course, they took. I love this angle of my dress and the train. They did a great job. 

Looking back...

I think the wedding in Bali was great. We all had fun and the food was amazing. Besides I got to design my own jewelry and be the center of attention all night, how bad could that have been? Looking at the pictures again, I feel like I smiled and laughed so much, it must have been fun! HAHA

The Jakarta wedding was (on the other hand) not so good. Ricky's sister took us to this place to get out make up done (oh first of all, she had to have a hissy fit about Ricky not wanting to pay for making), but the make up guy was doing this horrible job, so my mom and I starting telling him what we would prefer he do. The guy threw a fit and said that he couldn't concentrate with us commenting! He was a make up guy who worked in a hair salon, in the mall! He was acting like he did make up for the stars! In any case, in the end, my mom and I went to buy make up and we did the make up ourselves at home. I got so many compliments on my own make-up, it was awesome. As for the dinner itself, it was just that, dinner. Ricky and I went to sing two songs, it was simple, short, which is a good thing. I couldn't wait to leave Jakarta, felt so much better when I got back to HK!

As for the wedding in Hong Kong, it was the busiest by far, but also good, since my mom planned it all. I changed about 6 times, into 4 different dresses. My make up was also changed each time I changed, it was pretty cool. I felt like a movie star. As soon as I walked into the bride's room, three people pounced on me to help me change clothes and then make up. A girl followed me around all night holding my train, haha, it was so cool. I sang one chinese song and Ricky and I sang a duet in English. He was pretty...eh..! Haha... but whatever. We had close to 400 guests at the wedding in Hong Kong and Ricky got introduced to a lot of my dad's executive friends. A great way to network!

Phew! In the end, I'm glad it's over. It was fun while it lasted but I'm glad to just get back to my old life of eh.. working! Haha... there is not such thing as an "old life" it seems. Everything is constantly in flux at this time. New internship, school starting, school activities to plan, full-time job to look for...there is no end!! But I guess that's what makes life interesting!