Things I've been doing

-Went to see Amanda Baisinger, my old yoga teacher perform at Cornelia Street Cafe. Great performance. Also felt very New York : underground jazz club with a bottle of wine, etc.Check her out.
-Made football cake pops for our Super Bowl Party. They turned out pretty well. Recipe here, pictures on my Facebook.
-Attempting to get a couch delivered from Bob's Discount Furniture.
-Staying at Village Pourhouse until last call and watching a guy who had been creeping on me get beat up by the bouncer.
-Attending a cocktail party at Trump World Bar for my internship.
-Not sleeping.

COMPUTER BROKE

+ Moving into my NEW APARTMENT has been insane.

A silly Affaire

The night started off with me and Lisa attempting to say goodbye to Asian/Cooper 35, our beloved bar from freshman year. It's being torn down and developed into something, and there was a protest because it's a historic building, followed by drinking at the bar after. Of course, because it was a special event, they were extra-strict on ID's, and we didn't get in.

After that, we decided to go to McSorley's (New York's "oldest continuously operating saloon"), where Lisa realized that "one is two". Meaning you get two drinks every time you order one. We also made friends with a sailor from Rhode Island and his awkward friends.

Next stop was Village Pourhouse, where Mich and I restarted (and Lisa joined) their "Passport" program. Basically once you drink a beer from each of the countries that they have beer form (it's like 20 or something) you get  a free t-shirt. :)

And then we ended up at Affaire, a new club that is actually like 2 blocks from Dalia's place. There was an NYU party going on there, so obviously we ran into a bunch of people that we knew. Good times. And I finally stumbled home at like 3:30am.

Saturday I basically napped and did nothing during the day, and a bunch of people came over around 10. (By came over, I mean to Dalia's because I'm still homeless. But I basically live here, and she was sadly gone this weekend.) We had another reunion, becasue Mich's friend was in town and other people who we haven't hung out with since frosh year were there. We all went to Lauren's housewarming party, but I was really tired and overwhelmed because it was so crowded, so I just went home and slept.

There's no pictures from this weekend because the few that I did take are disgusting and embarrassing. Perhaps when others put some up there will be a few that I deem acceptable for the public.

I'm going to see No Strings Attached tonight. Yes, I am. I'm sure it will be a fine piece of cinematic art.

Restaurant Week

So last night, before the storm really started going, Ashley, Dalia, Hina and I decided to go out to dinner at one of the places doing Restaurant Week. It was totally spur of the moment, and a great decision. It's the kind of thing I did a lot in Paris that I need to do more of in New York. (35 bucks for 3 courses!!)

After failing to get a reservation at Azul, we ended up at Rayuela. The place was two stories, spacious, and had an olive tree imported from California in the middle. Good, fun, and not obnoxiously cheesy or loud Spanish music played in the background. It was pretty dimly lit.

(from the website)

We started off with a vodka cocktail with sage leaves, pear, maraschino liquor, and pear Grey Goose and a piece of bread stuffed with cheese and olive butter. 

We opted for the wine pairings for our three courses too. I had:

"betabel con torta del casar

Stuffed crepe with beet-arugula and torta del casar cheese

and ginger green pea sauce"

"pato con arroz
Breast of duck marinated with Añejo Rum served with huacatay
duck confit Valencia rice and membrillo sauce"



"torta de chocolate
Flourless cake with black cherries and vanilla cream"

 

All each paired with an extremely generous half glass of wine. What a success!!

SNOW DAY

Except I still have work. But whatever. I woke up at 11am instead of 7:30am.

We actually ended up experiencing the ice pellets last night. And heard thunder during a snowstorm. 19 inches in Central Park apparently.

"Heavy Snow Freezing Fog"

UGH

Let it...Light Freezing Rain Mist?

After the cold snap on Sunday and Monday, I'm almost grateful for the huge amounts of snow and bizarre conditions today. 8-12 inches of snow today, but it is currently, according to Weather Underground, "Light Freezing Rain Mist". But "ice pellets" are predicted. Great weather.

My classes are overwhelming, but exciting. I really like them, but I feel like it will be my hardest semester yet. It's also just weird to be back here, and almost more exhausting to try to get back into an old routine. I keep forgetting things about how to get around NYU etc that I definitely should know. For now, I'm just going to try to push out the impending doom and enjoy the first easy few weeks of school. And try not to freeze.

2nd Semester Junior Year

First day of classes was today. I felt like it was the first day of the year -- Paris feels like it was just part of an extended summer break

I had to be at my internship at 9, which meant waking up at a painful 7:30am. Michelle (my boss) finished getting me oriented and stuff. Then I met Joe, Cyrus, Lisa, and Lois for lunch at Cafetasia. It was my first time there, and it was pretty good Thai food. Nothing mindblowing, but it was 8 bucks for an app and an entree. Good deal.

After that I went to Industrial Organization, taught by a nice but completely nerdy, socially awkward middle-aged man. But I like his jokes haha. Ashley and I were texting during class...and then we realized we were both in the same class!! We had no idea. Retarded. It was my only class, because I dropped my afternoon one (it had the wrong course description when I signed up for it).

After some major couch sitting, I tried a P90X video with Hina because it was definitely too cold to leave to go to yoga. (It was LITERALLY 10 degrees today. Ugh.) It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't Crossfit :). I also feel like I didn't give it a fair chance because we didn't have weights, so I couldn't scale it to make it harder, but the guy was annoying and it felt silly. I definitely understand the whole Crossfit thing about functional movements a little more now. And the guy is annoying.

Reunions

Friday: Lisa came over after her internship and we ordered Veselka for delivery. I had the vegetarian combo plate, which was so legit and so much food that I ate the leftovers for lunch on Saturday. After Lisa left, I walked to Sarah's apartment where I met up with a bunch of people to pregame. We went to the Village Lantern on Bleecker for this NYU Dance Team event. It was just so crowded and noisy that I couldn't even talk or move, so I didn't have that much fun. It wasn't a bad time though, just a little overwhelming. We stopped at this bar called Shades of Green on our way home, and it was so empty and deserted and I wasn't into it. Plus I was exhausted.

On Saturday everyone finally came back into the city. Mich, Ashley, Cyrus, Dalia and I had dinner at 7A, which was surprisingly good for a 24 hour diner. Then we went back to Dalias place to pregame, and the boys came over too. It was one big family reunion.

Ben brought everyone penis Silly Bandz, which were ridiculous. I had a yellow one, but it broke because it was too small! They were tiny. I don't what child wears penis Silly Bandz, but it was ridic. After pregaming for a long time, we finally decided to venture out into the cold (it's been low 20s and even down to 16 degrees this weekend, ugh). We ended up at Mama's, a bar around the corner from Dalias. It was fine, but at that point we were all really tired.

Today I had brunch at Rue B with Dalia's friend Gabbi. We had a really good time and a really good brunch, I had grilled asparagus with parmesan cheese and scrambled eggs. Then we went with Dalia to look at potential tattoos, and Dalia and I went grocery shopping for dinner. We're making baked chicken with wine and bay leaves and garlic and figs, butternut squash, salad, and quinoa. YES. 

Snooki's Slippers

Another thing: Snooki and I own the same slippers. Yesssssssss

Cheap wine and office buildings

I started my internship today at The Institute of Economics and Peace as their US Program Intern. Should be good. Plus, it's at the New York Life Building, which is historic and SO close to  my new apartment. According to Wikipedia, "The gold pyramid at the top consists of 25,000 gold-leaf tiles". Badass. 

[From some random architecture website]

I was so tired after two and a half hours of my training/orientation, which is was also ridiculous because I didn't even wake up until noon. I woke up hungover from the cheap wine last night, which tasted so watery (esp compared to the wine in France!!) but then I drank like 6 glasses and accidentally got really drunk.

And then I had Pomme Frites for the first time. Lauren took me. They were pretty amazing. We had Rosemary Garlic Mayo, Sweet Mango Chutney Mayo, and Smoked Eggplant Mayo. Mmm. Continuing my Welcome-Back-to-New-York-Fattening-Eating-Tour.

It's one of the MANY places popular with NYU students that I have missed out on because apparently I don't pay attention to these things? Others include Blockheads, The Cottage, Benny's Burritos until Sunday, Smac, Cafetasia, and Coffeeshop. I fail.

2 DOLLAR DUMPLINGS

Omg delicious. 2 dollars for 8 vegetable dumplings at Prosperity Dumpling in Chinatown. Go. Now.

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/prosperity-dumpling/

Benny's Burritos

After sleeping a LOT this weekend, I met up with Lauren and Andrew at Benny's Burritos, an NYU hotspot I'd never been to before. The portions were humongous, and pretty delicious. It said "SF Style Mexican" on the front, whatever that means. But I liked it. Plus, delicious and fairly strong margaritas. Very sour though.

Movies I watched this weekend while lying on Dalia's EXTREMELY comfy couch:
-Jerry Maguire
-The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
-The Girl Who Played With Fire
-Chasing Amy
-Volver (REALLY good.)
And like a million episodes of Friends and Community.

New York Poem

By Terrance Hayes

This poem IS New York.

Triple A

Also, the real estate agent told me he thought my initials were hilarious and I should be a street b-ball player and go by the name "Triple A". Haha.

An apartment, officially

So I'm staying at Dalia's place in Alphabet City for now. Her and her roommate are gone so I get the place to myself, haha. It's pretty nice.

Yesterday because it snowed so much she couldn't leave for Boston, so we went to see Black Swan. Amazing. I loved seeing it too because I had just seen Swan Lake in Paris. But really, that movie got to me. It made me scared just to see her cutting her fingernails. Impressive. And I really liked their use of the soundtrack.

Then we went back and drank for a bit, and then went to dinner at Supper down the block from her. I forgot how dense NY is with places to eat and things to do. We split the kale salad and I got squash ravioli with chives. Mm.

Today after yoga I met up with Anne. It was so weird to see her in NY, not in Paris. She helped me pick out a mattress for my new place! So excited.

 Because after, I went to officially sign a lease for the apartment on 27th and 3rd. YES. And I got to reunite with Lois and Lisa. Even bigger yes. I hadn't seen them in 8 months and a year, respectively. Crazy shit. Of course after we finished with the d-bag real estate agent, we went back to Dalias, watched Teen Mom 2, and had delivery Indian food. :)

12 inches

I couldn't sleep last night; I think I'm still on West Coast time. I think I finally fell asleep in front of Entourage around 4am, and managed to wake up at 11 for a noon yoga class...that was actually at 1 because I misread the schedule (I'm trying out Bikram LES for a week. So far, so good. I actually know one of the teachers, Corinne, from Union Square). But I browsed at McNally and Jackson for awhile and bought a bunch of books.

By the time I finally got dressed, fucked around on the computer, and did some serious couch-laying it was like 4pm and Dalia came home. We went to Essex for dinner and drinks and amazing catching up around 7. The pear ginger saketinis (half price!!) were good, and my mac & cheese was delish of course, but the fucking homemade potato pancakes are to die for -- caviar included (yes, classy latkes).

(during the day, from NY Mag)

After, we went to hang out with the guys upstairs from Dalia's, enjoying a nice California Zinfandel. And then Dalia enjoyed some Stella. And then she fell asleep in front of Family Guy.

MEANWHILE, its snowing fucking 12 inches tonight apparently. The city is quiet. It's amazing. When it snowed in Paris, it was beautiful, because Paris is beautiful and it was unusual. But it wasn't nearly as much snow as in New York. That's because New York can handle its shit, but when it needs to be, it's peaceful. I wouldn't trade the drunken phone screamers and the garbage trucks for anything.

Paris Nights/New York Morning

It's so nice to be back in New York. It feels like home. I can't believe I've been gone for 9 months...I missed it.

I went to go look at an apartment today, and slept a lot. I really hope we get the apartment. You never really know until you sign the lease and stuff, but it is big and nice and in a good location for not a  bad price. The super told me I wasn't allowed to take pictures for legal reasons because people are still living there.

And I slept a lot. For some reason I didn't sleep on my red-eye last night, I'm usually so good at that stuff.

Manhattans

Boozy.

http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink580.html

But freshly made Maraschino cherries are delicious.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

In 2011, I hope to get much closer to being this girl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JqYzcieCfM

I may be slightly obsessed.