Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Glad for the E train

September 24

You’d think if you showed up at a restaurant opening and spoke to someone near the entranceway holding a clipboard and told her your name, she wouldn’t look at you dumbfounded, wondering why you were talking to her.
She might not have heard you, especially since restaurant openings are loud sometimes, but you would expect that she might have some idea that someone approaching her from the outside and uttering a few syllables might be saying his or her own name so that she could look it up on the list she was holding.
Or maybe I was already in a bad mood, having had to find my way during rush hour to the distant neighborhood that some people call Soho West, although I don’t think any name has really stuck yet. I had to let two jam-packed E trains go by before I could fit into one at the 5th Avenue stop, near my Midtown East office.
I was at the opening of Archipelago, in the space that once was Dani. The Japanese woman with the clipboard at the door seemed dumbfounded that I would speak to her. I told her my name again, but more loudly and immediately regretted it because I sounded mean.
She asked sweetly if I was with the press and motioned me to the press table, where I checked in, turned around, thanked the clueless Japanese woman (I didn't need to yell at her, but she should be able to handle an arriving guest without looking like a deer caught in headlights), took a glass of red wine from a passing tray and tried to figure out who all these people in the restaurant were.
They were mostly Japanese people. I gathered that they mostly were clients and friends of the owners. I chatted with a couple of people from the Food Network, sampled a couple of cocktails, snacked on some salmon on potato pancakes and soon decided I’d seen enough and left.
The space reminded me a lot of Dani. The food is Japanese-French fusion according to the press materials, but to me it seemed more like straight-up contemporary Japanese in New York — which is to say not necessarily authentic Japanese, but Japanese in spirit made for the audience they want to attract.
I had another opening to go to — this one near my office, also near the path of an E train. But it was a bar opening, so I popped into Ben’s on Spring and Thompson for a slice — I think it was the Pizza place in Men in Black — and then hopped back on the E train to go to Haven, a new bar where Divine Bar once was.
It’s on 51st between 2nd and 3rd avenues, and for reasons I can’t explain I walked down 2nd avenue to get there, and was struck by how very much like Murray Hill eastern Midtown East had become. It seemed so bridge-and-tunnel/fratboy. Then again, as Wall Street crumbles, I’m sure more than your average number of men in suits are filling bars to drink in them.
Haven seemed, well, very much like all the others, only on this evening it had a velvet rope and young women with clipboards doing crowd control.
They, too, had some difficulty, as you had to remember which of two women you RSVP'ed to so they could look on the correct clipboard. You'd think that could be consolidated in 2008. At any rate, I’d RSVP'ed to Jezebel, a name that can’t be forgotten.
To my delight, I was greeted by Steve Remming, the very able and good-natured general manager of Avon Bistro who now is managing Haven. He ushered me in, brought me to the bar and introduced me to the bartender, Jeff. I asked for a cocktail, he asked what I like, I told him whisky, he made me an Old Fashioned. Everybody wins when that happens.

What was served at Archipelago (food was clearly not a priority at the Haven party — the chef hails from The Four Seasons restaurant, so it might be good, but the party seemed more intended as a chance to voir la boîte, as pretentious people say):

tuna tartlet with tomato salsa
snow crab salad with cumin tuile
bonito tartlet with wasabi pickles
saikoro steak skewer
tomato, miso mozzarella and hearts of palm
smoked salmon on a potato crêpe
fluke with shrimp galette
Tahitian vanilla cheesecake

カレー/ Japanese kare

24 september 2008, rabu pagi,

Pagi pagi abis anter Mei skul, sempetin bikin kare, coz Mei ntar siang makan di rumah...menunya apalgi kalo bukan kesukaan die...hehehe...die suka kare, tapi yang rasanya agak manis.

Bahan

1 bh bawang bombai, iris tipis

1 bh wortel, potong bulat

3 bh kentang, potong bulat

100 gr daging - terserah mo pake dag sapi , ayam ato babi

1 kotak rule kare

800 ml air

2 bh kaldu maggi

3 siung bwg putih


Cara

1. Tumis bwg bombai n daging dengan minyak secukupnya.

2. Masukkan wortel n kentang, tumis

3. Masukkan air, tambahkan rule kare n maggi, masukkan bwg putih, masak mpe lunak


Malamnya kita pesta kare deh..hehe, ditambahkan gorengan nugget ayam, jadi lebih yummy...
husband bilang, wah kare ini enak...lebih enak daripada yg die masak...hehe, seneng deh... Mei juga bisa makan banyak....hihihi

Korean Beat Tells us Melamine found in Korea

Chinese Melamine Found in Korea

The scandal over melamine-tainted goods from China, mainly in baby formula, has now spread to South Korea, reports Yonhap News. The food found to be unsafe is a brand called 미사랑 카스타드 manufactured by Haitai. It looks like this:

When you were young...

Sonríe como si de verdad lo quisieras, al menos inténtalo para que se marquen sus señales en tu cara y recuerdes las sonrisas al ver sus marcas con el paso del tiempo.

Realmente es como lo que soñabas cuando eras muy pequeña, pero ése concepto de romanticismo es un arma de doble filo capaz de hacer más daño por el lado bueno que por el lado malo.

¿Merece la pena seguir manteniendo esa esperanza? La fe la perdiste hace ya mucho tiempo, ¿por qué mantener la esperanza?

Supongo que se debe a que la caminata es larga y solitaria, y ya no te merece la pena soñar... sólo merecen la pena las pesadillas....

Hace mucho que dejaste de esperar sentada al príncipe, y tomaste tú la espada para marchar a luchar campo abierto. No eres una princesa al uso, más bien lo eres al desuso...

Ahí está escondida en tu sombra, revoloteando con sus alas de cristal. Y es que ya no eres tú la que hablas, soy yo... el Hada de mis Pesadillas.

Power of ONE "ant"

Down here is a picture I took with my Nokia N73 during a walk in the park near TTDI one find afternoon during lunch. It just happen that notice one ant on a branch of a tree. During that time it was only a ant on a branch and there was no big deal except that it look nice to take a picture with, so i did.

But after sometime, this ant image started to give me more then just a fuzzy picture to look at. I start to recall that ants are super efficient and task orientated.

I recall one fine day when I was younger, I was outside and playing on the ground ‘that means a very long time ago’, anyways.... there was this one ant passing in front of me. So just for fun I place my large LEGO toys on the flour and block his path. Guess what happen? He did not turn back, he walk around my LEGO toy.... I block his path again but it did not stop the little fellow. He just keeps finding ways to get to where he wants to go.

Not to far away i notice a army of ants, i stated to get worried coz i did not like to get bitten by ants ‘the effects last for 1 or 2 days’ and its not something i enjoy. But then i recall the color difference, the one i that bite me was red and the army here was black. So i guess they were safe so I stayed on. I did something almost the same to them as the earlier one but this time I surrounded them all with the LEGO toys, HAHAHA!!! This time I know I got all of you!!!! then I ran back to the house to get my toy soldiers coz that time it look like little green man against black alien (ants). But when I got back out, it started to rain, OMG!! My LEGO!!!! I ran out to go take my LEGO and also release the ants but when I got there, something crazy happen. The ants were moving up my LEGO toys and they did it in lines. Cut the long story short, they survived and they did it as a group/team/family.

This tiny little ant, reminded me of people, like you and me. Sometimes in life we get a brick wall or this case a LEGO in out face that stops us from achieving our goal, but we can choice to complain and blame of why this happens or we can choice to find a way “do whatever it takes” to get to where you want to be. Just like the little ant, he just would not let me stop him. Great attitude

And event as leaders and champions that we are, we listen and work together so that we have a win-win situation. What do I mean? Well the group of ants could have died but they did not, they made it out alive by working together and supporting each other from the start to finish.

These ants remind me of the wonderful people I work with here in AKLTG, in the office, during the camps, in SCL classes, they all do whatever it takes to make our goals come true. And for that, lets keep moving forward!!!

THANK YOU!!!!!