catch_MOI_attention's Xanga

Monday, November 09, 2009

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:59:52 GMT

On October 25th, my teacher passed away. I received the news at 8pm and thus began my mourning. There are five stages of grief. They look different on all of us but there are always five - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance - according to krubler-ross. In practice it is far more complicated than moving from one mental state to the next and does it even go in that order? ... One thing is for sure - for some of us acceptance comes long after the deceased has been laid to rest.

We turn to our cultural beliefs and religions and follow the rules that govern the treatment of the deceased. We have a plethora of practices that keep us moving forward when all we want is for the world to stop spinning, when all we want to do is succumb to the hollowness within.

In Mongolia, the deceased body is left in the open without a casket or coffin - to return the body to the earth they say... Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

In ancient Egypt, the deceased are mummified to prepare them for a life in the afterworld where the body and bodily organs are needed.

Very different to that is the buddhist way of dealing with death. Buddhist believe that there are no permanence in life, which is displayed by their belief in reincarnation that the soul transcends the body and rebirths into another.

These practices, these beliefs, they help the living deal with the emptiness; it helps us deal because that is what we must do. When it hurts so much that we can't breath, that's how we stay alive.

The thing about grief the really crappy part is that you can't control it. The best we can do is try to feel it when it comes and let it go when we can.

We think death is far from us but then unsuspectingly it creeps up on us and we are suddenly faced with mortality.

Mistakes

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:03:18 GMT

In some professions accuracy and precision are a must. As surgeons, as an architect, as a pharmacist... when a life is on the line there is no room for mistakes; errors are not a luxury to be afforded. But for the rest of us, except minus a few cases, mistakes are merely a matter of inconvenience - it's just easier to be right.

But let's face it, we all make mistakes. We are human after all. We are irrational at times, emotional most of the time and nostalgic at best (at least in my case).

HER: I always thought that you would design our home. And I would request a window to be placed at this obscure place where there totally shouldn't be a window [because I wanted more sunlight] and that I would probably regret it. And you would know that I would regret it. But you would still let me.

HIM: I WOULD.

But sometimes, not often, but sometimes, a mistake made at the right moment can be an amazing and exhilarating experience.

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Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:06:12 GMT

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Tom Sachs & The Modern at MoMA

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:32:17 GMT

My cousins are visiting from England and I"m developing a Brit-tish ack-sent. So try reading the below post with a accent!
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9 West 53rd Street took me a little while to find but once I stepped beyond the double glass doors, I immediately fell in love with the posh lacquered white pseudo-walls leading into the bar room of The Modern restaurant. I appreciate any decor that is aesthetically pleasing but am more partial towards contemporary and minimalist designs.

My date was late, so I had a 45 minute head start perusing the menu and wine list. After eyeing my neighbors choices, I decided I wanted the round pizza-like dish (Flambée) and a dish with Saffron. Ever since Catherine Zeta Jones' character in No Reservation put saffron on my radar, I've been wanting to taste it but somehow I never got the chance. Wine wise, I settled for Laurel Glen Reds 2006, which is a blend of 60% Zinfandel (from 40-80 year old vines), 30% Carignane (from 118 year old vines!) and 10% Petite Syrah. It's a new world wine and I chose one of a more recent vintage because my previous experiences with red wine taught me to either go young or very mature. Everything in between has been a pretty bad experience. - But this is personal taste and opinion.

After a glass and a french baguette, BF finally arrives and apologizes profusely. I am still angry at having to wait but a conversation with our waitress about her honeymoon cruise to the Bermuda etc. reminds me of the cruise I took with his family - the one where I was sick every night and he had to take care of me.... so we moved on to ordering.

Our consensus was that we loved the food but were particularly blown away by the appetizers. Gabriel Kreuther is amazing and he definitely deserved to with the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in NYC!

Here is a peak of what we ate and my thoughts...

Roasted Long Island Duck Breast with peppercorn-crusted apples and toasted pistachio-truffle dipping sauce - The Duck Breast was very tender and ah-mazing with the pistachio-truffle dipping sauce.

Tarte Flambée Alsatian thin crust tart with crème fraîche, onion and applewood smoked bacon - I'm a huge sucker for bacon, especially on a thin, paper thin crust and topped with creme fraiche, which I thought was an excellent choice as any other cheese would have been too heavy and would compete with the bacon.

The entrees were both small, (appreciated because my appetizer was so large, I took half of it to go) but very rich. BF's Pork Belly was a western rendtion of the Chinese Roast Pork with Korean flavors. It literally was a thin layer of meat on the bottom, topped with a inch-thick layer of melt-in-your-mouth korean bbq flavored pork fat, and the skin roasted to crunchy crispy perfection. I think BF was sold the moment he read "Beer" and "Pork Belly".

Beer-Braised Pork Belly with sweet pea purée and ginger jus

As for myself, I'm ready to stock BF's kitchen with some saffron.

P.S. Rabbit tastes like a blend of frog and chicken.

Saffron Tagliatelle with cider braised rabbit, wild mushrooms and baby zucchini

We were both really full by now, but still very appreciative of the desert. While it was good, it didn't blow me away.

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with strawberry sorbet

Modern Cheesecake with almond crumble, raspberry and ‘fromage blanc’ sorbets

Instead of walking off the extra calories, I pose for photos with Hello Kitty, My Melody and Rabbit (don't know its name) These are actually done by Tom Sachs. I keep meaning to google the artist but Jessica read my mind and gave me links to his other works. Thanks Jess!

Northwest corner of 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue

PR update**

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:45:23 GMT

My first business trip was to Tales of a Cocktail, simply put I woke up way too early to hop on a plane, landed at the Ritz Carlton Hotel at noon (ritzy I know), and was ordered to party till dawn for the next four five.

I guess I can't complain, since this is work.... serving Unimaginable Pleasures to revelers at the tasting room.

The theme is Unimaginable Pleasure. I dare ask, what is yours?

**So at the end of every month we have to do a PR update for all of our clients and since each of us manages a couple of clients, it gets to be annoying. I feel like I can spend the time being more efficient (ie: making more calls, establishing more contacts and building my roledex). Anywho, that is where the title of this post came from...

Maybe one day it'll hit me / That you're the one / I should have held on to.

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:52:30 GMT

I saw him again today. It's an unhealthy obsession and I know I should stop but I love the scent of him caressing my every movement. I cry each time I feel his presence grow fainter as I urge myself to hold still, just so his scent can linger a little longer.

Every time I leave, I check to make sure I have everything with me.
I know that this may just be the last time.

I want to leave a trinket behind.

Miss me...

I spoke to him again today, it was a short one sentence exchange but it was enough for me to think about him all over again, not good. not good at all!

A peak into my new life...

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:30:28 GMT

Prologue:

I have been really bad at chronicling my food excursions in the recent months. I guess being busy isn't the best excuse to use but the truth is I am pleading BUSY. =P

I guess I should start from my most recent adventures and work my way back to where I've left off (come to think of it, I left off two seasons ago.. Fall 08)

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I was ridden with conference calls, quite literally, every hour on the hour. Although I wasn't required to be on a few of them, the others dragged on for so long I felt like I was in on another round of calls. Finally, at 4:30 I hung up and along with 2 colleagues JM and Kay and trusty intern Magster (my nickname for her), half dragged/half hauled a box and 7 bottles of alcohol to [Studio] where we were doing our event walk through. The event venue was still under construction and we spent much of our energy dodging wooden planks, beams, wet paint, electrical wires and a big hole in the ground that would become the main staircase in the next three days.

The highlight of this hour would be when the walk through was finally completed and we stopped by Le Pain Quotidien @ Soho for some GINGER SNAP COOKIES with lots of sugar sprinkled atop the cookies! Yum!

After the walk through, JM and Kay went uptown to meet a potential client and I returned to the office to round up Gray and Gi for drinks at Employees Only, which I famously declared in the office as an exclusive hole in the wall establishment, with Jule from [Magazine]. Jule was super cute and I immediately developed a girl crush on her. Very eccentric colors (think yellow tee, navy blazer, dark shorts and bright flats. Cute freckles and red/orange lipstick) , very cute and very east village-y. (I'm making up words again)

We were seated shortly after we exchanged hugs and air kisses. The one thing about girls and especially people in our industry is that we are able to launch into conversation with practically anyone, even if it requires feigning interest sometimes, but most of the time we're genuine. (Otherwise, you can tell)

Our waitress went on a wild goose chase for us as a member of our party requested a specific drink: Xante with Sprite and a splash of lime. Apparently, the brand of alcohol was very popular and they only had enough left for 2 of such cocktails, so Gray and Jule were given the honors of savoring this high demand, rarity cocktail. Gi had a Pimm's cup (pimm’s no1 served tall with a blend of cointreau, lime juice and ginger soda, garnished with cucumbers & fresh mint), which I happily called PIMP CUP all night. I was torn between a Provencale (Lavender Infused Plymouth Gin stirred with Herbs de Provence-Infused Vermouth & Cointreau) and the rest of the menu but a quick chat with the waitress later, I ordered a West Side (charbay meyer lemon vodka, fresh lemon juice, & simple syrup shaken with fresh mint, served straight up). It was very crisp and refreshing without any residual sweetness that a fruity alternative might have.

In between stories of "My best and worst celebrity experience" we settled on a few dishes to share: Cheese Platter, Seared Calamari and Cavatelli.

By the time our food arrived, we had morphed into full blown boyfriend talk, not-so-much ex bashing but the topic of ex boyfriends did come up (along with breaks, fidelity and the such). Personally, I don't have much faith in marriage or perhaps I should say that I don't have much faith in happily ever after. As Bones would say, "monogamy isn't statistically probable." Although I would be the first to admit that I was, like many who grew up reading fairytales, a firm believer of the phenomenon. But that has since changed.

The Cheese Platter came first. There were 3 types of cheeses, (I didn't take any pictures because it was somewhat business related and I was starving!), and I can only remember the source of these three types of cheeses: namely goat, sheep and cow. They were accompanied by spiced walnuts, pistachios in honey, olive oil and squared pitas. The goat's milk cheese was the most pungent, soft and easily spreadable but I found it too overpowering for me. The sheep's milk cheese was hard and light and was my favorite of the 3. The cow's milk had a consistency of some thing between the other two cheeses but it didn't stand out enough for me to recall any distinct characteristics of it.

The Calamari was stuffed with Tarragon Shrimp Mousse and then seared on both sides. It was ok, definitely not one of their signature dishes.

The Cavatelli on the other hand was just what we needed. I usually do not like red/meat sauce but I was happily slurping away in this case.

Our tete a tete commenced at the arrival of our checks and Gray and Gi flipped through their wallets to see which one of our clients would pay for our lovely meal that evening.

As we walked out, Gi pointed to a man sitting at the bar with a hat. "He's the one who decides who gets admitted and whether someone gets a table or not." By that time I was already half way out the door, I turned back slightly in a non-stalkerish means to get a better look at the "Key Holder".

As Jule and I lived in the same area, East Village, we ended up sharing a cab (insert more boy talk here), courtesy of [magazine]. Jule was delivered to her home and I to the destination of date-number-two!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Fri, 29 May 2009 03:57:00 GMT

So much has happened in the past few days.. birthday, graduation, job offers, change of plans, moving out (temporarily) and all that jazz.

Hope all is well with everyone. Be back with updates and comments very soon. xoxo

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Drinks at Tao

Birthday Dinner at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon at the Four Seasons Hotel - Had one of my best meals

Monday, May 18, 2009

Mon, 18 May 2009 02:07:48 GMT

Cafe Boulud

Bread (Butter Roll) and Amuse Bouche (Cous Cous with Pine Nuts) - You can really tell a lot about the establishment by the bread they serve; I didn't like either.

Duck Terrine (Pate en Terrine) with Cornichons, Quince Chutney, Baby Mache

Grilled Leg of Lamb with Flageolet Beans, Eggplant, Mushrooms, Cucumber and Olive Relish // Seared Loup de Mer with Potato Gnocchi, Citrus Braised Endive, Pearl Onions

Cheese Cake with Graham Cracker Crust, Citrus Marmalade, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream // Paris-Brest with Hazelnut Cream and Chocolate Ice Cream.

Courtesy of the Chef - Madelines/Hot Cakes dusted with powdered sugar

Un Bon Anniversaire a Moi

Sun, 10 May 2009 14:53:50 GMT

You don't write anymore, he said.

I know, I replied.

All my attempts at writing for the past few months have been thwarted by a bigger desire to forget. I write mostly to keep a record of my life because when our memories begin to elude us, little keepsakes become artifacts and written accounts resurrect the forgotten.

My writings become my key to the pass; remember The Notebook?

====> An Early SURPRISE!

Bon Anniversaire a Moi