We followed the rabbit down the hole

Yesterday I spent the entire day in Central Park. The weather in New York has been absolutely beautiful this past week. I've been telling people that it's like California weather. Sunny and warm during the day and cool at night with enough breeze to turn off the A/C and open the window. I've even been able to wear jeans, comfortably (The heat the week before made wearing jeans or any long pants unbearable). I met up with Korey on 60th and 5th, near the building that comes out of the ground (first time I had seen that). We snacked on some veggies which ensured an entertaining rest of the day.

We spent the next 3 hours (though it felt like 6) over at Rumsey Playfield for Summerstage. DJ Spooky was curating a musical showcase which included Outernational, a ska/rap/rock band from Brooklyn, Prefuse 73, and Talvin Singh. Overall, it wasn't the most exciting concert. Outernational had a good energy, but their front man really bothered both me and Korey. He just didn't feel genuine and I have a problem with bands that seem like they are trying to be revolutionaries. Their song about the French youth uprisings a while back was uninspiring. However, at least they had some stage presence. Prefuse 73 and Talvin Singh did not. It's not really their fault. Prefuse 73 is electronica so you had one guy slouching over a computer, another slouching over a turntable and then there was the drummer. The drummer was entertaining to watch, for a little, since Prefuse 73 has some pretty off-kilter beats so doing live drums can be difficult. Talvin Singh is a DJ. DJs are never interesting to watch. You just listen or dance to them, but you don't watch. Oddly enough, a bunch of people stood up during Talvin's performance and just stared at him. They didn't dance or move; they just stared. It kind of weirded me out and messed with the vibe.

Korey and I spent most of the time just lying on our blanket and watching the clouds which were devastatingly beautiful. Our earlier snack definitely helped and the musical backdrop really intensified the whole experience. After the concert, we meet up with Larry and Ashley and killed some time in the park with a smoke. After that, I don't remember much except walking around haplessly, sort of going color-blind at one point (yeah...probably not a good thing), and this little kid coming up to Korey and pretend shooting him with a stick. Overall, a pretty great day. Like Korey said, Central Park=Eden.

Goodbye F, V, and 1, Hello 4,5,6

I finally moved this past weekend. This whole moving process has taken close to 2 months, but it's finally over. No more commuting from CT. No more living out of a suitcase. I will miss my temporary digs in Chelsea. The location was phenomenal and the commute to work was literally less than 15 minutes door-to-door, but its nice to have a place to call my own now. Coming home after work is more peaceful. The commute is a little longer and I'm still getting used to it and figuring out the quickest ways, but overall, I can't complain. I'm living on the Upper East Side now, where its more affordable compared to Chelsea. I'm finding fun restaurants and I'll hopefully have more time to explore the area in the coming weeks. But for now, I'm just glad to be home.

The New York Twins???

No, the Minnesota Twins are not moving to New York. But now that I'm in New York, it's time to find a new baseball team. I'm not a diehard Twins fan. When I was living in Minnesota, I didn't watch their games religiously and my family didn't go to the Metrodome that often to see games, but I have distinct (and fun) memories of going to games with my dad, watching the Twins win the 1991 World Series, and of course, my Kirby Puckett bear. So if I ever had to root for a team, it would be the Twins. However, now I live in New York and feel it necessary to embrace the New York experience which means cheering for a New York team. Plus, it's almost impossible to catch a Twins game on TV if you're living on the East Coast.

Korey and Margo at the game

Yesterday I and some of my Midwest clan went to Yankee Stadium to watch the Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. This was my second time being at Yankees stadium. The place is incredible and now I understand why the Metrodome completely pails in comparison. The game itself wasn't all that exciting except for the 2 homers by Damon. A-Rod sucked as has been his trademark lately and the crowd let him know. Giambi was also disappointing. But even if the Yankees had lost, I still would have enjoyed the game. There is always an energy at a major sporting game. The crowd mentality is so addictive. But when you go to a stadium where the home crowd is very prideful and actually loves their team, the feeling is uncomparable. I remember the same feeling when I went to see the Giants play out in San Francisco in April. Bonds may be one of the most hated players in baseball now because of all the controversy, but he is aptly loved by San Francisco. At the game I was at, he wasn't even playing, but in the 9th, he came in to pinch hit. The stadium erupted and everyone was on their feet. And then Barry hit a homerun. Everyone lost their shit.

That's what I love about baseball. I don't like to watch it on TV, but I will go watch baseball live. Next game will be Twins vs. Yankees over Labor Day weekend when more of the Midwest crew descend upon the city.

Room Service With Some Art On The Side

Met up with my friend Kyle tonight. I haven't seen her in a long time. The nice thing about Kyle is she's one of those friends who I can hang out with without it having to be a group thing. You know how some friends, it's only fun to hang out with them if there are a lot of other people? Kyle's not like that.

These trippy butterflies hang in the
entrance to ABC No Rio

We headed down to Alphabet City, over on Rivington, to ABC No Rio for an art show to benefit Daniel McGowan. ABC No Rio is kind of a hole-in-the-wall, but the art show was great. A bunch of artist had come together to donate work to benefit Daniel McGowan and his defense. Kyle and I didn't stay too long (the lack of air conditioning was pretty unbearable), but I did pick up a nice little print for me new place.

Some of the art from the show

We headed back to my neck of the woods (Chelsea) and searched around for a place to grab dinner. We were both pretty indecisive about where we wanted to eat, but then we passed this one restaurant, Room Service. Both Kyle and I immediately stopped and swung our heads around. It has a very hip interior that caught our eyes. We both looked at each other and knew that this was the place to eat.

Overall, I really liked Room Service. The food was delicious and very affordable. You could easily get an entree and appetizer for under $20. However, Kyle and I also indulged in there list of special drinks so the bill started to add up. The atmosphere was very young. The service was a little slow, but the people watching made up for that. Kyle and I were seated near the window so we had fun watching people on the street and in the restaurant. Chelsea boys were running rampant (it is Chelsea, so what else do you expect?).

I'll be moving out of Chelsea next week, but this is definitely a place I'd come back to.

Interior of Room Service

Good Friends, Good Music, Good Eats

Inside of Nolia

It's been a long week. I think I've been out every night which is pretty unusual for me. I'll admit it, I'm kind of a home body, but I've been trying to change, especially now that I live in New York. But being Friday night, I had to end the week well.

My friend Jessica from home, another Midwesterner, was in town. She's looking for a job and has some good leads. We met up after work and headed down to Alphabet city for dinner at Nolia. This was my first time eating at Nolia, but I had only read good reviews of the place. I was hoping for the best since it was all the way on Avenue C. I'm not hating on Avenue C, but it's pretty far east and there isn't a whole lot around there so if the restaurant was a bomb, then it would be hard to find some other options. Luckily, I was not disappointed.

Nolia, short for magnolia, touts itself as a fusion of French and Asian cuisine. Not sure if that is how I would necessarily describe it, but the food was still good nonetheless. The restaurant itself is small, but nicely decorated. All the staff is very friendly and the waitresses are cute (if that's your thing). Jessica and I started off with some drinks. I had a Noliajito, Nolia's take on the mojito. We also split an order of filet mignon spring rolls. These are one of Nolia's signature dishes and they were excellent. For entrees, I had the teriyaki wild king salmon and Jessica had the lamb chops. Both were nicely cooked, moist and succulent. For dessert, we split a chocolate hazelnut cake.

Overall, my experience of Nolia could not be beat. I will definitely be coming back, especially to try their prix fixe menu. Only $20 for a 3-course meal, Sun-Thurs, 5-8:30 PM.

After dinner, we wandered over to Washington Square Park. I don't think I had ever seen Washington Square Park at night. Absolutely gorgeous. This is why I love New York. After walking through the park, we stumbled onto a small blues bar on Bleecker St. called Terra Blues. The place was already pretty packed when we got there and the band, the Clarence Spady Band, was wailing away. They were a three-piece band, guitar, organ, and drums. Shit was crazy. The crowd was a nice mix of young and old and everyone was into the music. Jessica and I stayed there for probably 2-3 hours, just listening to Clarence destroy the guitar and sing his heart out. I was completely mesmerized by his finger work. I definitely need to pick up the guitar again.

On The Waterfront

It's restaurant week which means a chance to try a restaurant that I normally couldn't afford, at a reasonable price. My friends, Vero and Kerel, and I made reservations to eat at The Water Club. The Water Club is located on the East River. It boasts an excellent menu of seafood at an elegant location with a view of the river. It's a pretty fancy place and the best way to describe it and the atmosphere there is that of a country club. I'm not a country club kind of guy so I already felt a little out of place.

After looking over the restaurant week prix fixe menu, both Vero and I decided to order straight from the menu. I don't trust anything on a restaurant week menu that isn't normally on their regular menu. Overall, the food was nothing spectacular and at the price, I expected a lot more. The scallops and crab cake were good; the scallops were large, yet light and not overcooked. The crab cake wasn't overly season, just a lot of crab meat. I had the dover sole. Definitely overhyped and not worth the money. Overall, I was not impressed with The Water Club. It is obviously geared towards an older crowd. The food is overpriced and since it's on the water, there are not a lot of other things nearby so if it can't deliver a full night's experience (which it didn't), then it's not a good bet, especially for a date. Maybe lunch is a better value.

After dinner, Vero left us and Kerel and I headed downtown. We met up with some other people at Still, a bar on 19th St and 3rd Ave. It was pretty dead, especially for a Thursday night. Except for the short time where we stole the bartender's bottle of Jack Daniels and chugged that, there wasn't much else to get excited about.

So we decided to head down to 14th St. to King's Head Tavern to play some beiruit. Things picked up there and the bar itself was pretty cool. Beer wasn't too expensive, Beiruit, and the bartender was nice and she gave us a round of free shots.

From Ashy To Classy

View of Manhattan from Fulton Ferry

My original plans for yesterday were pretty bland. All I wanted to do was finish up work, go home, eat dinner, and watch Project Runway, but yesterday's amazing weather led me to some wonderful adventures. After a flurry of texting to see if any of my friend wanted to go get drinks and dinner alfresco, one of my buddies from back in the day (i.e. the Midwest), Korey, hit me back. He was working on a shoot for a pilot TV show featuring Charlie Murphy and Donnell Rawlings (i.e. Ashy Larry) from Chappelle Show fame. They were shooting scene at various locations in Queens and Brooklyn and were on their way to shoot a scene at Fulton Ferry, underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

I hopped the F train over the Fulton Ferry to meet up with Korey and watched them film for a couple of hours. This was my first time on a live shoot. Overall, it was great to see them setting up shots, but this was a relatively low-budget production (and just a pilot) so it wasn't anything fancy. Donnell was shooting a music video as part of contest he was having with Charlie Murphy. I think the premise of the show is that Charlie and Donnell just go up against each other in challenges and comedy is supposed to ensue. The best part of the shoot was watching a large group of teenagers from Osh Kosh, WI act as the crowd in one of the scenes. This made their day and was the quintessential New York tourist experience. Midwestern kids come to the big city for their first visit and end up on a TV show. Korey offered to get me into the scene as well but I figured it would look pretty odd having a lone Asian kid in a sea of blond hair and blue eyes with Ashy Larry rapping in front.

Donnell giving directions to the Osh Kosh kids

After the shoot, I grabbed some ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory for the walk back to the subway. The ice cream was good, but a little pricey for my tastes ($5 for 2 scoops!) I also passed by Grimaldi's Pizza. A pretty large line was formed outside, waiting to get a seat. Korey said that that was typical since Grimaldi's is touted as the best pizza in Brooklyn.

Later in the night I met up with Korey again for drinks and nachos at 1849 over in the Village. I've been there before with Korey, so not a new experience, but I like the place. Fairly laid back bar with a good atmosphere. It's not a dive bar and it's not like a uppity lounge or club though the live music last night got a little old after a while. There is only so much I can take when it comes to angsty rock covers. Later, Margo, another Midwest back in the day-er and Korey's girlfriend, joined us as well as her roommate Erin. It's always a good time when the Midwest crowd gets together in the city. After a couple more drinks, we decided to call it a night, but some possible weekend plans include: a Mets game, a concert at McCarren Park in Brooklyn, or a free show by the Upright Citizen's Brigade.

Weekend With Mom

Mom came to the city this weekend to visit me. She's been pretty worried about my whole apartment search and just the idea of living in the city. I grew up in the Midwest, not exactly near a farm (though some of my friends did live on farms), but not the most urban setting either. In the past, I don't think it would have really cared if my mother approved my living situation as I was always a very independent person, but lately, family has taken on new meaning for me so it was important for me to get Mom's approval of my new digs. I took her by the apartment, did a quick walk-through, and then took her around the neighborhood. Thankfully she approved and she even thought I had done a good job at finding a place.

Mom's been to the city many times before so we didn't do anything touristy. Most of the weekend was spent eating a lot, paid for by her (of course) and finding ways to escape the heat. For one of our dinners, we ate at Joe's Shanghai around Midtown. Mom had eaten here before and loved it. I was just happy to have some good Chinese food (Now that I think about it, I might have eaten at Joe's Shanghai's location in Chinatown down on Pell Street before). It also helps that Mom speaks fluent Chinese so she can converse with the waiters and find out if there are any specials or dishes that aren't on the menu which is usually the case at Chinese restaurants. We started off with an order of soup dumplings. These are always great and Mom loves them because they are pretty hard to make so it's not something she would make herself (Mom's a great cook!) For our entrees, we shared a Chilean sea bass and a duck dish. Both were excellent.

For another dinner, we ate at Triomphe, a little French restaurant located at the Iroquois Hotel. I had read some good reviews of the place so we thought we'd give it shot. The restaurant itself was small, but nicely decorated. It was pretty empty when we got there and didn't get much busier throughout the night. However, the food, except for a few missteps, was fantastic. We started with the scallops and the cumin-crusted quail as appetizers. Both were great dishes, but Mom and I both loved the scallops, especially since they were topped with porcini mushrooms and foie gras butter. For entrees, I had the muscovy duck while Mom choose the pan roasted shrimp with risotto. The duck was moist and flavorful. It probably wasn't the most adventurous choice for a dish since I've never had a bad duck at a French restaurant. However, Mom's shrimp was pretty disappointing. For one, the shrimp were pretty small and they were only five. Also, the whole dish was watery. Maybe it was suppossed to be part of the white wine sauce, but at the least, the chef should have used some restraint. Who wants to eat risotto swimming in water?

We finished off the meal with some coffee and tea and split a very light, champagne poached pear. Overall, a very good meal however I would avoid the shrimp in the future and the mixed drinks weren't all that great either. I had a mixed berry mojito to start the meal off. It felt a little watered down and the overall taste was nothing special.

And the wheel keeps on turning…

It’s over, though how I got here is such a blur now. I finally found an apartment which I hope to call home soon. It’s a large studio apartment on the UES. Originally I really didn’t want a studio apartment, but this apartment is actually bigger than most 1 bedroom apartments I’ve seen in NYC and the rent is much less. It’s a railroad-style apartment with effectively three rooms. In the front, there is a huge living room. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the living room is huge. Even after I get all my furniture moved in, the living room will still look pretty cavernous. It also has a very large window which will be nice to sit by on Sunday mornings and people watch.

Behind the living room is a small bedroom area which is large enough to fit my bed, dresser and night stand. Behind that is the kitchen, which is pretty large and then the bathroom. All in all, I’m pretty happy with the new place, especially the price. The building itself is nothing to talk about. A simple walk up with no real amenities, but it’s clean and the super lives in the building so you really can’t ask for much more.

So what happened to the roommate? Well, he’s no longer my roommate. We searched extensively for a place and actually found a few that were really nice, but the coordination just wasn’t working. He could never get out of work to see places which meant I had to see places alone and try to gauge whether or not he would like the place. I even put down a deposit on a place that didn’t pan out. (Still working on getting that deposit back from the shady brokers.) We also had some financial issues. Most of the places wanted us to have guarantors and since the only possible guarantors for me are my parents, who live outside the tri-state area, things were difficult. Plus, my dad recently retired and I really didn’t want to get my parents involved. They just don’t need the extra liability.

Since I had to move a month before my roommate, I had to make the decision to start looking on my own again. Originally my roommate was fine with that, but as luck would have it, just when I found my new place, a two-bedroom that we had looked at a while back came back on the market and lo and behold, we were the first in line for it. He wanted it badly and tried to convince me, but at that point, it just wasn’t going to work out financially for me so I had to say no. Even worse, we haven’t talked since. I don’t think he’s mad at me, but the fact is, he hasn’t returned my e-mail or phone calls.

So I guess in my search for an apartment in NYC, I’ve been swindled by brokers, meet some shady people through Craigslist, lost a piece of my soul, and maybe even a friend. Was it worth it? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

And I Will Call Him Roommate

After a couple of unlucky tries at finding a roommate through craigslist, I finally had some luck. One of my friends from college, Evan, and I talked a little over the weekend and decided to try and find a place together. Originally, I had thought of having Evan as a roommate, but the timing of our leases was off by quite a bit that it really didn't seem feasible. However, our thoughts and where and what type of building we want to live in is similar as is our income so finding a place should be a lot easier. I'm just going to have the bite the bullet and pay the rent myself for the first month or two, but hey, that's the cost of moving. It'll still probably be cheaper than paying a broker. We're planning on looking at places this Saturday so if I'm really lucky, I might have a new home by next week.

Still seaching for a place to call home

It's now been three weeks and the search for an apartment in New York still continues. The search has taken me all over the place. First I wanted to live on the Upper East Side. Then I was set on living in Brooklyn. Now I'm back to looking for a place in Manhattan, but now I'm more open to which part of the city. Basically, if its close to transportation and below 96th, I'm pretty good.

But I realize that I'm still pretty picky about apartments. It's definitely taking me a little to get used to dollar to square footage ratio in NYC; it's definietly not the same as CT.

Now, I'm looking at a roommate. Oh man...when will this all end?

Searching For A New Home

I've been searching for an apartment in the city now for about a week and a half. It has not been going as well as I had wanted. I've now decided that I'm open to living in Manhattan (preferrably the East Side) and Brooklyn as well. Brooklyn is definitely more affordable, but I know less people there and it would just be more convenient for work and for friends if I was in Manhattan.

This whole process has been really stressful. Work wants me in the city by July 1 yet they aren't really giving me any help in the process. It's a little ridiculous to expect me to get it all together by myself by July 1, especially since I don't live in the city so actually viewing apartments is challenging. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and really hoping that I can find a place without using a broker because I just can't afford their fees at this point.