Monday, May 28, 2007
on dreams
Inspired by the visits down a few cafes in New York City, I have decided that maybe my dream is worthed pursuing after all. It should be a mix of Collegetown Bagels (Ithaca), Serendipity3 (NYC Upper East Side) and The Patissier (Chinatown). I'm gonna open not one but TWO cafe/bakeries. One will sell old-fashioned European bread with flaky french pastries, a cross between Choupinette (Duchess Road) and Simply Bread (Guthrie House). I'll make sticky buns, sugar honeyed buns and menu will serve all sorts of delightful wicked desserts and nice warm toasted sandwiches with grilled eggplants. Which includes moist lava chocolate cake topped off with mint leaves and sprinkled icing and cream-filled canollis and tiramisu. (getting a little Italian here, but anyways, YUMS) And of course, the interiors will boast of mosaic tiles, stained-glass tiffany lamps, and grey marble-tops. The cafe should be located within the 6th avenue vicinity (i'm being a little of an elitist), near all the powerful schools and upper working class. And I'll give generous discounts to Hc & Rv students :) .The second bakery would be abit more upmarket, comprising of designer cakes. Thinly-sliced mango flesh sandwiched between semi-sweet custard and vanilla sponge. White chocolate mousse on chiffon mousse topped off with chantilly cream. And the cafe will be really old-fashioned; of a West meets East rather than East meets West style. Think old Shanghai, circa 1920, which reflects the pop art era of the East. The design is gonna be really Chinoiseristic with the antique fans circling from the ceiling, and the doors will be like wooden frames off the shophouses along Melaka. West meets East + Nonya-centric.
Then of course, aside from all the fluffy thoughts, I've gotta outline a concrete path before I can even get there. Hopefully I'll be able to get a job as a Wall Street rat to even have some finances to work with before I can pursuit on my dream. And as I type this, i seriously wonder how much of these will come true 15 years down the road. Maybe I'll look back one day and realize how cute my thoughts were when i was 19 yr old kid with a cute dream.
ilovetotwirl at 2:06 PM
Sunday, May 27, 2007
travelling escapades - part 1
So here's a round up to an entire week's worth of travelling. From Cornell to the finger lake region to new york city to baltimore to washington dc to georgetown along with great company and good food. I'm eating wayyy too much for my own good; but life is short and we should always try not to think too much when i comes to indulging oneself.
So from all the different cities, there's the tiramisu from Georgetown, Maryland crabs, homemade roasted potates + crabcakes along Keuka lake, Thai food at the Ithacan commons, Chocolate fondue at Max Brenner @ Lower East End, Kenka restaurant which was really izakaya (and they allow you to make your own cotton candy, so cute!), Indian food near Herald Square, Frrroozen hot chocolate(yums) & chocolate cakes (double yums) from Serendipity 3 (where the movie itself was made!) and lastly turnip dumpling along 34th street. Plus Korean food at Ellicott City and of course a homemade food cooked with love by the favorite hallmate. (: And we baked a large white fluffy cake yesterday topped with lotsa icing! This is some serious living with no consideration or whatsoever for Calories or Trans fats. Haha.
Ooh, and of course in between being a glutton and a lazy slob, I watched the Phantom of the Opera along Broadway and American Ballet Theatre perform Othello at the Lincoln which was soo soo good. Haha. And not to mention the usual shopping at the big cities and the small towns.
I'm one happy kid now! :D
ilovetotwirl at 9:25 AM
Saturday, May 26, 2007
freshman postscript
I'm bored and my friend is still asleep. We are such pigs; we get up everyday at 2pm and mop around before doing anything exciting...but no complains here because im enjoying my life now as a slob, eating sleeping shopping and nothing else for the whole day. :)
School finally ended a week ago. All the madness from studying over the finals, distractions that were going on outside (kept wanting to go out to play by the lakes because of the nice cool spring weather), and then the hectic frantic packing and packing away of freshman life into boxes before moving out of my dorm less than 24 hours after my last finals. It feels sad to be moving off-campus next year, having to say goodbye to all the people which I've met over the first year. I remember wondering how life would be having to uproot myself away from home. Questions, doubts and alot of excitement. How would I communicate with them? Will I just be that quiet, subservient Asian girl that blends in with the wallpaper? How can I move beyond my comfort zone and hang out with the non-Singaporeans? Looking back, I feel as though I have grown to be a more confident person in the presence of strangers. Sure I still feel wierd meeting all the random white guys at parties, but now the self-conscious worries about my accent and me being non-white wash like the rest of the Asians have dissipated. I don't mind being known as International (aka PRC in our terms) because i know that makes us the smart kids in school accelerating to graduate in 3 years. And that how its okay I speak wierd in with my pseudo-accent because Americans find Singlish cool. In short, its really okay to be just me, no matter how much I stick out like a (sore) thumb among the crowd, because ultimately thats what i'm best at being at and I'm not going to pretend to be someone else just to be like them.
Then again, going overseas also meant losing the luxury of having to be a 5 MRT stops away from my favorite people, and all those weekend hangouts at Orchard/Bugis/City Hall. Its not as bad as I thought, as I come to realize that its all part of the growing up experience. I've found new people that have allowed me to pulled me through, new friends whom made me realize that life is still as good, if not better than the time than it was when I left on 12th Aug.
So I guess everything sums up really nicely in the end and it rounds up to an enriching experience for my entire first year in Cornell, overseas, and away from home. I'll currently on the road travelling around the States + Canada and I'll finally hit home base sometime in mid-june. I'm looking forward to crashing on my big bed, eating my favourite popiah, and hanging out with old friends. Till then, I'll be busy catching up on my sleep debt and enjoying quality time with my family. (:
School finally ended a week ago. All the madness from studying over the finals, distractions that were going on outside (kept wanting to go out to play by the lakes because of the nice cool spring weather), and then the hectic frantic packing and packing away of freshman life into boxes before moving out of my dorm less than 24 hours after my last finals. It feels sad to be moving off-campus next year, having to say goodbye to all the people which I've met over the first year. I remember wondering how life would be having to uproot myself away from home. Questions, doubts and alot of excitement. How would I communicate with them? Will I just be that quiet, subservient Asian girl that blends in with the wallpaper? How can I move beyond my comfort zone and hang out with the non-Singaporeans? Looking back, I feel as though I have grown to be a more confident person in the presence of strangers. Sure I still feel wierd meeting all the random white guys at parties, but now the self-conscious worries about my accent and me being non-white wash like the rest of the Asians have dissipated. I don't mind being known as International (aka PRC in our terms) because i know that makes us the smart kids in school accelerating to graduate in 3 years. And that how its okay I speak wierd in with my pseudo-accent because Americans find Singlish cool. In short, its really okay to be just me, no matter how much I stick out like a (sore) thumb among the crowd, because ultimately thats what i'm best at being at and I'm not going to pretend to be someone else just to be like them.
Then again, going overseas also meant losing the luxury of having to be a 5 MRT stops away from my favorite people, and all those weekend hangouts at Orchard/Bugis/City Hall. Its not as bad as I thought, as I come to realize that its all part of the growing up experience. I've found new people that have allowed me to pulled me through, new friends whom made me realize that life is still as good, if not better than the time than it was when I left on 12th Aug.
So I guess everything sums up really nicely in the end and it rounds up to an enriching experience for my entire first year in Cornell, overseas, and away from home. I'll currently on the road travelling around the States + Canada and I'll finally hit home base sometime in mid-june. I'm looking forward to crashing on my big bed, eating my favourite popiah, and hanging out with old friends. Till then, I'll be busy catching up on my sleep debt and enjoying quality time with my family. (:
For all the good times!ilovetotwirl at 9:50 AM
