Christmas Photos!!

Tang Yuan bought from Chinatown for Dong Zhi festival. My cousin from Massachusetts and friends from Bemidji all arrived NY on the same day. We all went to a Malaysian restaurant for dinner. And of course Tang Yuan as dessert. ;)



Xinjiang satay as supper!

Touring the Bemidji friends around NYC in the Christmas weekend.

Around Rockefeller Center.

The Museum of Modern Arts. I think I should go back 100 years 'cause I don't understand the arts at all.


Group photo at the museum.

In front of Metropolitan Art Museum.




It's such a huge place. We barely covered 1/3 in 1 hour, although we were almost "speed-walking."

Now I understand why girls in the older days are so "lady." How "wild" could you be living in such place? Everything looks so fragile. Even I can be a lady. XD Haha..




Reminds me of Julian's Intro. to Western Civilization back in HELP.
Special exhibition of the month in the museum - The Japanese Samurai.


My favorite. My mouth was wide opened when I stepped into this exhibition room and saw the HUGE wall painting.

I wonder where they "got" this from.
A Greek statue.

Century 21 - near ex-World Trade Center.



In the park opposite WTC.
The Stock Exchange Center. Met Chloe here. She's also a Bemidji State U. graduate and now working in Chicago.


The Wall Street Bull.
Grand Central. Functions like our KL Central, with much older history and better preservation of its original architecture. The ceiling is hand-painted with the 12 zodiac signs.


Special laser performance on the ceiling only on Christmas. I might upload the 5-minute video next time.

Bryant Park.

Handmade popcorn from Bryant Park. Yummy~

Original - spicy cajun - cheesey caramel
The Christmas atmosphere in Rockefeller Center is awesome!



Another special light performance only on Christmas - Rockefeller Center.

The famous Porridge Village in Chinatown for dinner/supper!



The Museum of Natural History. I paid to go for the special Silk Road Exhibition. Great experience. They even displayed real silk worms. But no photography was allowed. :(

Err.. The shopping center at Columbus Circle. I don't know the name. ;P



Another food tour! The famous Joe's Shanghai soup dumpling, which even Ang Lee was here for the dumplings!


I'll be going to the Times Square's Year 2010 Countdown after work tomorrow. Wish me luck. It's going to be so cold and I'll bundle myself up like a dumpling!!! XD

New York City

Part of the Eight Avenue (one of the famous shopping areas in NYC) was closed this morning. I heard people saying smoke coming from one of the buildings but I saw none. Only a small smoke (let's assume if there's some) but there were like 10 fire trucks standing by on the street. I guess they can't afford to let the fire spread to the other expensive stores?




Even paramedics were ready.



I still remember not too long ago I was thinking if one of my clients lives in the apartment facing Central Park? Here's one today. His apartment faces right opposite Central Park South and next to the Columbus Circle. He said he can view the Macy's balloon parade from his living room and touch the balloons by simply opening the window.


It's true. I sat next to the window and I could clearly see what the people are doing in the entrance! I was thinking if he sees me too when I was taking my photos downstairs after work. Cheh! See ma see lah!!



Columbus Circle.




A bigger picture of Columbus Circle.

Ukulele Boy II

I know I'm such a stalker, but I can't stop browsing this little boy's videos. He just cheers my every second up! XD





这就是所谓的童真吧？嘻嘻。。来，给我笑一个！[咔嚓!!] n_n

Ukulele (yoo-ku-leh-leh) boy - Jason Mraz's I'm Yours

When I say it's cute, it's cute. I spent my past 1 hour browsing this little cute boy's videos. How cute he is... Muahahaha...

He's the new HIT on youtube. You have to check this out:






*I love his itchy nose. n_n

Oh boy, I'm yours!! (sounds so wrong..)

Campbell soup 1 + 1

It's been raining almost the whole day today. Oh yeah, raining in the winter. What's better than having a bowl of hot Campbell soup in this rainy day after waking up from a 2-hour nap at 8.30pm?

First can of Campbell is the oyster stew. I only knew it's just 3 oysters in an unknown watery "soup."

Next I added the next can - Campbell mushroom with grilled garlic soup.

In a conclusion, 1 + 1 = 2. 2 cans of Campbell in one bowl.

And now, I have 1/4 more to go.

**Having a bowl of hot soup when it's raining out there is heavenly goooood. Try it.


***Disclaimer: The author has no intention of advertising for any brand previously mentioned above though the name appears n times. ;P


****Haha... I'm not done with this post yet. I had a wonderful Christmas week with my cousin and friends visiting from 2 states. The internet connection now is even slower than my current waking brain wave. Hopefully I'll upload them before next year, or this will be my 2010 resolution. XD


*****Since it's too late to wish Merry Christmas right now, HAPPY NEW YEAR then.

******Oh yes, I'm finally done. I'll let u go.

Food 2!!!!!!

Deng deng deng deng..... Korean noodles with spicy sauce (instant one lah...)

Other than the noodles and sauce, others are homemade -- fresh cucumbers (leftover from last week's sushi) and carrots, fried gong yu zai and dried tofu.


This is how it looks like after mixing the ingredients together. The photo was automatically arranged this way no matter how I rotated it in my original copy. Well, you need to turn your head then...


Hoho... I have no idea why I suddenly get so hardworking... I have written 6 posts since last Monday. Almost 1 post per day. This means you're very lucky... Hiak hiak hiak... May be I should make it up to a total of 140 posts before 2010?? Aiyoh... 4 more to go only mar... ;)

Food!!

My landlady was preparing for an early Dong Zhi feast with her family and her brother's family this afternoon. Handmade fish balls (reminds me of the Malaysian Fuzhounese fish balls) and handmade shi guo （ 米十 果). I never miss any chance to try new food!! She gave me five shi guo's and I had it for lunch and snack before dinner.

Mr. Landlord said it's similar to the Cantonese Cin Dui （煎堆）, but this is grounded pork with peanuts, spring onions and brown sugar wrapped with mashed sweet potatoes. Its taste is a perfect combination of of salty and sweet. Yummy!!!




By the way, I wonder who Dianne is. I have been getting calls from strangers asking for Dianne on and off since I got this phone number May last year. The oddest part was just now. I got the first call asking for Dianne and the next one coming in 1 second later for the same person. Haha... Both of the callers were guys. May be they're this Dianne's boyfriends and just found out that she's cheating on them. XD Hoho... I'm too imaginative...

10 hours later

This is how the street looks like 10 hours after I took the photos of it. I woke up at 9.30am and walked to the laundromat 2 blocks away to do laundry. I should have done it yesterday morning before the storm but I was simply lazy. n_n" The snow on the pedestrian walk wasn't cleared when I walked out this morning. Walking to the very end of the street you see in the picture was a little adventurous. Luckily the residents shoved the snow off the way when I got back.




See the white car in the right corner? It's almost covered by the snow.
It's Dong Zhi 2 days from now. Friends from Bemidji who were supposed to arrive in NYC today can only arrive on Tuesday due to flight rescheduling as a result of the snow storm. My cousin will also be coming from Massachusetts. What a good timing. I should start researching where to bring them for Dong Zhi dinner.

Busy week

Case Management Program's party in the Monday afternoon, our foundation's Holiday Party in the Tuesday evening and ice skating at the Bryant's Park on the Wednesday after work. I didn't even have the time to cook in the entire week 'cause I had too many events going on!! n_n


Dec. 15, 2009 (Tuesday)
I had Singaporean chow mai fun for lunch. It's not the one we have in Malaysia. It's fried with curry powder, char siew, chicken and shrimps instead, but it's good!. My co-worker Christina sitting next to me asked for my suggestion for lunch. So I recommended one of our favorite dishes and I guarantee 99% of Americans will like it (even if the chef cooks as bad as me). The food gave me a shock when she brought it back from the restaurant. WalauA!!!!! This is the worst Americanized Chinese food I ever seen. Guess what's this?

Sweet and Sour Chicken!!!!!!!!!!! The syrup-like sauce is the sweet and sour sauce that you dip with the chicken. Man, these people are way too creative.... Christina saw how surprised I was and she said she expected it this way and she likes this. OMG!! So the chef didn't screw the dish, but I did, I suppose?



Tik tok... Tik tok...

Finally the clock ticked at 5pm!! This was one of the very few times our director sends us an email stating that the office will be closed sharp at 5pm. Well, all of us in the back room were ready by 4.57pm! ;P


15 of us heading to the subway station. We were like school kids going on a trip. Everyone was so excited and who cares how the others look at us?




The express train was already crowded before the door was open. There's no way all of us are going to squeeze into the same train.


Instead of squeezing ourselves in the express train, the rest of us made into the local train (which took us almost an hour instead of 30 minutes). But we din't need to squeeze and we got a seat!!

The party had started when we arrived at 6pm.


Group photo for the Case Management Program. Not everyone came to the party but here's the majority of us. The only 3 Chinese-speaking case managers are here - Davina, Persephone and me. 3 youngest case managers in the office (22 years old) - the only 2 girls with glasses (me and Persephone) and the only guy (Will) in the picture. The lady in green is our director (Amanda). Barri (in a white jacket and black shirt) is 1 of our 2 supervisors.


Is that me or the staffs in my office don't look like their age? They look younger than they do. But somebody in the office thought I'm at the same age as her.... Well, not too bad... She's 25... Haha... I really want to look more mature/older working in this office 'cause we're dealing with folks older than 65. I can't imagine a 22-year-old assessing my needs and physical condition when I'm 80. Anyways, our program was the biggest winner of that night. 5 out of 16 of us won the lucky draw gifts - a 16" flat screen TV, Wii, camera, Macy's gift card and iPod. I was 1 of the 16 but not 1 of the 5. ......



The dance floor was open after the lucky draw. They had already started helping themselves with alcohol at the bar. I had a Coke! ;)


Our program was too outstanding this year. After sweeping away the 5 gifts, all of us were on the dance floor, occupying half of it. Will, Barri and myself are the 3 pillars among them. These people couldn't believe this is my first dance party in U.S. Hoho... I didn't tell them this is also the third dance party in my life - one in the 2007 HELP ADP/Psychology Dept. prom and second in the club after the prom.







Dec. 16, 2009 (Wednesday)
Davina planned for this ice skating at the Bryant Park a week ago. It's the only free ice skating rink in NYC if you have skate shoes. Shoes are rented for $12 for an unlimited time.


The waiting area.

The rink is temporarily built on the grass during the winter.


The park is surrounded with sky scrappers.




I started off by holding on the rail for about half an hour. You know people say you can only learn when you're not afraid to fall? Not this one for me. I was very careful, watch my steps very closely and move my skates very consciously. Of course, I came in prepared!! I had my knee guard on under the jeans.

Off the rail after that!!! With zero fall in the end!!!
Anna, Davina and Lillian. Lillian left the office 2 months before I came in. I'm now taking over her clients and job in the office.

Free coke products given out at the exit. It's the new mini coke - only 222ml with 90 calories per can. Oh wait, am I doing free publicity for coke?

The famous (or maybe not) handmade (that's what advertised in the newspapers) popcorn!! There are many different flavors. I got myself the Spicy Cajun BBQ popcorn.

We went to the Red Lobster for dinner.

Served with biscuits as starters!!! Yummy... This is a must-try at Red Lobster.




My wood-grilled chicken and scallop with rice. I had met my lobster limit for this week. No more lobster.
I arrived home at 11.30pm with a extremely full stomach and tired legs. How amazing I was when I managed to drag my body to work the next day.


Dec 19, 2009 (Saturday)
Finally here comes the long waited weekend. 3 batches of friends (from St. Cloud, Bemidji and Massachusetts) will be coming to NYC.

A snow storm was expected to hit the East coast inclusing NYC today, which will also be the first snow fall in New York city.

I was on the street witnessing the first snow of this winter (I was there too when it first snowed in Bemidji last year! How lucky!). It started with very tiny little snow flakes. You can't see it from the photo yet (taken with my phone). Suspecting I'm already back in Malaysia or I'm in China when you're looking at the photo? Told you, I live in China. Haha... I'm so going to miss the food here. Well, I am already...



Not realizing it could turn out bad with the small little snow flakes, I ordered 2 Xinjiang "satays"- 1 chicken and 1 lamb (on behalf of 940 as I was talking on the phone with her). Hehe...


See the red chilly powder? Extra spicy chicken "satay". No pork satay 'cause the food is originated from the Uighur ethnic group (維吾爾族) in Xinjiang, China. Most of them are Muslims. This will be my top missed food when I leave this place.


When I was biting on my second stick, the storm started - more snow and stronger wind. (You know how slow I eat, especially when it's delicious!). As soon as I finished my last bite (not too soon afterall), I fast-walked back home with my runny nose (I ordered for extra spicy!!) and freezing hands.

Snow was accumulating on the floor within 20 minutes after I saw the first few snow flakes on the streets just now. How can I miss this first snow fall? I went back to my room, grab my camera and got out of the house.


Have I shown you the place I'm staying yet? See the balcony (second floor) with the orange cardboard stating room for rent? I stay in one of the rooms in the unit. I live with the family of my landlord who collect rent from the units on the basement, first, second and third floor. Mr. and Mrs. Landlord are very friendly and nice people. Mrs. Landlady's surname is Yang too! They emigrated from Fuzhou, China and they speak to each other in the family in Fujianese (we'll call it Fuzhounese). I listen to the language everyday...




Well, the winter is now officially started in NYC.