It began on the BART. Finding my way to one of the last trains to the city, I made it to Powell Street. There I found the streetcar. I held $5 in my hand, but they did not ask for anything. I got off at the last stop 20 minutes later near Fisherman’s Wharf. I asked the man for some directions, and he pointed me in the right direction and I made my way to the hotel.

There I met up with Ngoc’s brother, Truc. I waited for Ngoc and James to get back. They came back and since we were all exhausted, we just slept.

In the morning we had to decide what we wanted to do. Ngoc and James’ friends, Audrey and Erik were picking us up to go eat $1 oysters. Despite this, we headed to Mama’s and had brunch. The place was interesting, you walk in and order from a counter before sitting down and being served. Between the 4 of us, we ordered 3 dishes.

Eggs Benedict at Mama's

Afterwards we walked back to the hotel to wait for Ngoc and James’ friends – Audrey and Erik. They planned on taking us to Hog Island Oyster Company and then to Berkeley.

We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped to take some photos before continuing on to the north bay.

Me and Ngoc at the Golden Gate Bridge

We drove for a long time along Highway 1. I fell asleep (of course), but we arrived at the Hog Island Oyster Company an hour later. It was such a beautiful place for an oyster farm. A huge bay, picnic area and oysters for $1.

View at Hog Island Oyster Company

We had 5 people, so we got 50 oysters. I wish I wasn’t so full from breakfast, so I could’ve eaten more! Audrey and Erik also brought guacamole, fruit and other snacks. It was such a fun day to sit out there eating.

Oyster Cheers!

After the oysters, we took a drive to Berkeley. The campus was really great. It really made me want to go to school there. I’m considering business school there in 2011. We’ll see where that takes me.

We had some tri-tip sandwiches before we headed into campus. We walked around, bought some things, but mainly, we headed to campus to check it out. The campus is really nice. Some parts are a little weird – ie: the architecture building was not pretty. The sciences building on campus was really nice.

We also chatting with some squirrels, looked at the protesters, watched students walk by… it was a nice college visit. After Berkeley, we went to get Cheese Board Pizza. We sat in the median in the street and ate the pizza. After that we headed to get some gelato. Overall it was an AMAZING food day.

Cheese Board pizza

One of the coolest things in regards to NYC are how many historical sites there are on one tiny island. There’s so many random things to find and I love discovering something new.

After an amazing (and very filling) lunch at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que on 131 & the West Side Highway.

My plate from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que!

After that, Drew had told us Grant’s Tomb was only down the way, so we headed over there (in the cold) and walked up a hill. Greg’s poor friend Jake must’ve been wondering where we were taking him!

The area is a little obscure, but very nice (and quiet). The Tomb is HUGE! It’s just sitting there in the middle of the park.

Grant's Tomb

President Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States and a decorated and much celebrated Civil War General. Despite is general unpopularity when he left office in 1877, his tomb is considered the largest mausoleum in North America (crazy!).

Near/next to Grant’s Tomb is the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It’s MASSIVE. That’s really all I have to say about it. I’d seen it before when I went up to the Cloisters, but this was the first time I actually stopped to take some shots.

Cathedral of St. John the Divine

After all of this, we walked through Columbia… which isn’t very large (nor exciting). I was kind of surprised about how small their campus felt. I guess that’s the problem with going to a large school, everything else feels small.

Hopefully I can get some more shots of the city this summer. So much more to explore!

Headed to Philly for a beautiful Sunday to see the lovely Amy because her birthday was last week and I didn’t get a chance to see her!. Took the Chinatown Bus with Jiye who was heading back home.

Here’s the big problem: I took one whole picture while there. Ok,  three. Two of which were on my cell phone.

Sign at Reading Terminal Market

So, here it is, the one grand photo I took. I’ll go back to Philly soon, so no worries, much better photos in the future!

Highlights from the trip:

• Mussels & Duck Sandwich from Monk’s Cafe
• Chocolate Banana & Mango Champagne Gelato from Capogiro
• Sushi (unmemorable, so I don’t remember the name)

Of course I have no photos. Of course. Anyway, more postings soon and maybe an exciting update if I find the time to do it!

I went to the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx this past weekend. This was my first time there, but it’s 250 acres of land dedicated to one of the best plant collections in the world. (Yes, I was listening when they were giving a tour).

Inside the conservatory

The conservatory was amazing. It was a giant greenhouse filled with a ton of exotic plants/flowers. I loved how they tried to let you see every inch of their jungle of plants. In the rainforest section, you could climb up into the canopy and in the dessert, they tried to give plenty of examples of plants that look like rocks.

Multi-colored Tulips

Outside we went to the rock garden & the children’s garden. There were a lot of beautiful tulips (a lot of them were past-peak). We also walked through some marshy wetland then to take the trolley around the grounds. There’s a lot of forest, but I wouldn’t walk through it (unless I was maybe jogging?).

Anyway, it was a lovely day and hopefully I’ll return once the chrysanthemum festival occurs.

The weather was amazing this weekend. After a crazy night out with some good friends, I woke up early and headed to Brooklyn for brunch at Buttermilk Channel. I met up with Jiye and Christine and we were easily seated.

I actually didn’t know what Buttermilk Channel was known for, but their eggs looked amazing. I ended up order a spinach, goat cheese and mushroom scramble. It came with a biscuit and hash browns. I also ordered some bacon-encrusted almonds for the table (which turned out to be not so great).

Salmon & cream cheese scramble

Christine ordered the salmon & cream cheese scramble. Jiye ordered the salmon platter. There was also a (terrible) coffee cake.

After brunch, we went to Jiye’s neighborhood and hung out at Tazza and had something to drink.

Then I met up with Winnie at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. It’s currently cherry blossom season and we wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Winnie & me in the cherry blossom promenade

They also had some beautiful tulips, especially the double tulips (which looked like a few tulips within each other).

Double Tulip

The gardens didn’t take too long to get through, about an hour and a half. After that we decided that we wanted to eat dessert – at Junior’s! So we took the subway and went to try out the famous Junior’s cheesecake.

I love cheesecake!

Winnie got the Devil’s Food Cheesecake and I got the Strawberry Cheesecake.

Overall, it was great weekend. May 1-2 is the Sakura Matsuri at Brooklyn Botanical, but I don’t suggest going (it will be PACKED). This weekend was packed… craaaazy. If you do go, enjoy!

Today began my first day of puppysitting Ms. Elliepoo. After work I ran over to Christine’s to drop off all my stuff before running to the Ritzy Canine Carriage House to pick up the pup. I walked her back home where she scarfed down dinner and then hopped up to the couch and promptly fell asleep.

Ellie is pooped

Around 9 I took Ellie out for her walk. Boy, she did NOT want to take a walk. Furthermore, I forgot poop bags… so luckily I came upon a newspaper dispenser and grabbed a newspaper to pick up her… poops. Good thing, or else that would’ve been mortifying.

Now I’m sitting on Ellie’s dog bed (b/c I need to be near the ac outlet) while Ellie is sprawled out on the couch sleeping. Lucky dog.

Went to Central Park to see how the snow covered the park. The Mall was closed unfortunately, but you could walk around and take photos. Went around the Mall to Bethesda Terrace then up to the boathouse.

Central Park Mall

The Mall looks really peaceful without anyone walking through it.

Little snowman

Not much to the post besides that I adore Central Park

I’ve had a fantastic day. I decided to go on a date with myself. It began with a trip to H&H Bagels, which, if you have never gone there before, you must. I was incredibly happy with my favorite toasted everything bagel w/ lite lox spread (delectable!). Sat there enjoying my lovely bagel and writing in my journal.

Facade of the Cloisters

Then I walked across town and got on the M4 bus to go to the Cloisters. The bus ride literally took more than an hour. When I got there, I decided to take some shots outside first because the daylight was perfect. Then I went in and walked around. It’s really a lovely museum. A lot of courtyards and places to rest and just enjoy the museum.

Stained Glass

I definitely need to return in the spring when the gardens open up.

Statue

Then afterwards, I walked through Fort Tryon Park (the museum is located in the middle of the park). I walked through snowy pathways and to the entrance where there was a playground. Of course, me, being the child I am, totally went on the swingset.

The bus came and I took the hour and a HALF long ride back to the city where I stopped off at Book-Off and then Zaiya before running 10 blocks to meet up with my coffee date, and specified lover from SF, Albie. We sat around and had 2 coffees, fries and sweets before he walked me back home.

I believe tomorrow I may be going to the opera with Albie. Soooo excited to finally go!

*humming opera songs

It’s already been 15 days into February and I have not written a single 365. So, I think it’s time to close that project and go back to what this blog was originally about – exploring.

So hiatus 365. Sorry and see you again one day.

Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

On Friday, James and I went to see the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle workshop at the Ohio Theatre in SoHo. Combined with elements of theatre, cinema, puppetry, it was a very good production. I was pleasantly surprised in how engaged I was in the story since the book is not the easiest one to read. It’s denser than most of his other novels and quite long.

Portions of the book were cut out so that it could be well adapted for the play itself, including my favorite characters – Nutmeg, Cinnamon, and Creta, but otherwise, the play did a good job of getting the point across.

Murakami is a current obsession of mine and I hope that others will revel in his spellbinding stories.

The Wolf Moon - Night of January 29-30th

The night of the 29th to the 30th was the night of the Wolf Moon – it will appear about 14 percent wider and 30 percent brighter than the typical full moon. It was really beautiful looking at the moon while walking through SoHo. I wish I had a rooftop to look at it from.

Sunday was uneventful, I woke up a little bit late only to find out that I’d forgotten about going to Tea Time at the Crosby hotel with Jiye and Christine (I’ll post a photo up later). We enjoyed finger sandwiches, scones and tea and there was a great ambiance to just chat about life.

Later that night I went over to Christine’s to find a shaved Ellie (she looks like a different dog!) and to watch the Grammy’s.