[tiffy trying] a jam-packed nyc weekend

Last Friday morning, I headed up to NY to spend some time with K, my cousins, and some friends. I took an early morning bus and arrived in the city at around noon.

[ instagram photo of DC flurries at 6:30am]

Grabbed lunch, took a quick nap, then proceeded to work on homework before meeting up with my cousins for dinner. Dinner was takeout from one of my favorite places, a Cambodian sandwich shop called Num Pang right by Grand Central (which was celebrating its 100th birthday that day). We headed over to my cousin's apartment where we had some dessert before prepping food for a baby shower that she was throwing for a friend the next day.

[grand central's 100th birthday party]

[artsy b&w instagram pic of grand central]

[cheese & proscuitto platter for dessert]

[more dessert: blueberry chocolate clusters, orange-hazelnut slate,

mango-paprika slate. yummy in my belly]

[cupcake production and frosting by yours truly

with LOTS of help from cousin G]

Saturday was spent doing laundry and finishing up homework before our double date with "MuDy" for Mu's 30th birthday. We ended up having dinner at Ninja New York, a fun ninja-themed restaurant complete with mystery boxes, strong drinks, flaming food, crazy waiters, and a magic show to cap the night. We followed that with mini-golf where I proceeded to win all the way up until the end, where everyone else scored a 3-way tie and I lost by 3 points. Terrible.

[ ninja ny ]

[animal-themed mini-golf at the putt putt hutt]

Sunday morning was a lovely, lazy Filipino brunch at Jeepney with Kathryn, Carlos, K and cousins, followed by errands (K needed to buy some stuff and return some stuff), then cleaning the apartment to host a Superbowl viewing party. We were mostly cheering for the 49ers except for cousin Allen who cheered for the Ravens (just to spice things up). Turns out he backed the right team. The Ravens won after a really exciting (and slightly stressful) second half.

[chori burger w/ egg, arroz caldo, bulalo beef hash w/ egg

not pictured: longsilog & avocado shake. yum]

[crazy superbowl sunday spread: KFC chicken, cheese platter,

cupcakes, sugar cookies, proscuitto, bacon peanut brittle,

microwavable chicharon, pizza (not pictured), a LOT of beer,

coffee & doughnut flavored custard from shake shack]

On Monday, I had lunch with a friend from home and a bunch of her friends from her old industry. She made reservations at Aldea, a Portuguese restaurant that had restaurant week specials. The food was pretty yummy and the conversation was really entertaining. Unforgettable quote of the meal "if he could stick it into a keyhole, he would..."

[mussel soup w/ coconut curry & chorizo, 

skate wing w/ brown butter & parsnip-cider puree, 

gianduja mousse w/ toasted orange pound cake, 

banana brulee & frozen Greek yogurt]

I headed back to the apartment to wrap up some more homework (it really never ends) and surfaced in time for dinner with K and the cousins. We hit up Keens which is a really old steakhouse, which used to be an old boy's club that has been there for generations. They are known for their extensive pipe collection, some of which have been smoked by famous men like Albert Einstein, Theodore Roosevelt, and so on. They also have the original program that Abraham Lincoln was holding when he was assassinated in the theatre. It is framed in the second floor of the restaurant. The food was great - lobster bisque, porterhouse, mutton chops, thick slabs of bacon, bananas foster and chocolate cake. We went to a beer hall after for a quick drink before calling it a night to get some rest before the early bus back to DC.

[porterhouse, mutton chop, bananas foster & lady M chocolate cake]

<3,

Tiffy

[tiffy trying] maryland!

Yesterday was a pretty eventful, fun-filled Monday. Jela, my cousin's gf is in DC for a few days and wanted to meet up for lunch. We decided to meet up at the Starbucks nearby then walk around the area and figure out where we could eat. I ended up walking to the wrong Starbucks because there apparently are quite a number of Starbucks cafes in my area. Eventually I found her and she introduced me to her niece, Nica, who was with her, who apparently works in my area.

We then decided on a whim to head over to Bethesda, Maryland for lunch since I haven't really ventured out of my little DC bubble. To be honest, with the weather being as ridiculous as it was over the last few days, I've barely ventured out of my apartment! So off to the train station and to Maryland we three went.

I've only been to Maryland once and it was a very quick overnight stay. I had visited one of my bestfriends in Baltimore and I didn't get to see much of the city other than her apartment, bits and pieces of her campus, and her boyfriend's family's house.

We ended up lunching at Nando's Peri Peri which is a fairly famous Portuguese chicken chain that they both frequent quite a bit. Funny story, when I was looking up possible restaurants to dine in, this was one of the options that stood out on my list because it sounded pretty interesting. The chicken was really flavorful with a nice, spicy kick. The sides were yummy too- spicy rice and creamy mashed potatoes.

For dessert I wanted to try out Georgetown Cupcake (DC's famous cupcakery) and we devoured the four flavors we ended up buying- Toffee Crunch, Red Velvet, Caramel Praline Crunch, and Cookies and Cream. We washed it down with coffee (green tea for me since I was already wired on sugar) and decided to catch a 3pm movie. We ended up watching Hansel and Gretel which... wasn't great... but wasn't that bad either. Really action packed and highly entertaining. We also found a photo booth nearby and ended up taking (and overpaying for) silly pictures of ourselves. Not bad for a Monday afternoon.

[pretty in pink! check out the bling on that mixer!]

[L-R top: toffee crunch, red velvet

L-R bottom: cookies & cream, caramel praline crunch] 

After this, we went back to DC where Nica's parents picked us all up (they were on their way to their son's birthday dinner) and insisted on dropping me off at my apartment just to be on the safe side. All in all, a really great way to spend a random Monday afternoon. Jela and Nica were so much fun to talk to and were so bubbly and cheery to be with. Considering that I had only met Jela once prior to yesterday's lunch, and it was my first time to meet Nica, it's pretty cool that we got along so well.

The rest of my night was spent doing the usual nightly routine- catching up on emails, talking to my mom on the phone, and working on homework (with the usual internet distraction thrown in).

<3,
Tiffy