Minca, New York

There are two things that I've been hunting around New York City since I came here, ramen and steak. Don't ask me why, it just happened. Ramen was the quickest and most convenient meal option, it works for both day and night. In fact, I just went to another ramen shop before I settle down here in Starbucks.

Well, so far I've been to 4 ramen shops since I came here and I think I could pick my favorite to share with you all. Minca that is located in the East Village is my favorite spot for ramen. They also have a sister restaurant, called the Kambi Ramen House. Both of them are just a few blocks away from each other and they have the exact same menu, funny aye?

Anyway I've been to both and they taste exactly the same. Twice, I had their Spicy Miso Ramen. Love love love it to bits! The broth is creamy and the spiciness level is just right, it doesn't leave your taste buds numb! The pork slices were kinda large and not too fatty.

I'm not really a vege eater, but when I have their ramen, I chomped down their bean sprouts. That says something, everything is just perfect together that you can't leave out any of the ingredients in it to have a full taste of the ramen.

Butao in Hong Kong isn't as good as how it used to be, guess I'll have to hunt for a new, good ramen place when I get back home.

Baohaus, New York

Just yesterday I was all over the Lobster Benedict I had for brunch and couldn't wait to blog about it. Then, I had these two little bundle of happiness, which I just finished gobbling it a few minutes ago, and I jumped onto my computer right away and made a gif. for the pictures! Lobster benedict can wait for now.

Thanks to Vincent's Cheap Eat article on Facebook, I manage to get my butt off the chair after a solid 4 hours of Photoshop and Illustrator work and head to Baohaus for a quick takeout. Since I hate being lost and not knowing what to order, Yelp-ing always helps. I quickly took note of the favorites that people mentioned and decided on the Chairman Bao and Birdhaus Bao.

It's been long since I last made a gif. The baos came in this super cute takeout box and I instantly thought of making the gif. As you can see, the one with a thick layer of pork belly fat would be the Chairman Bao and the other one stuffed with fried chicken is the Birdhaus. Both were sprinkled with crushed peanuts, which made the taste more hippie!

When my friend first told me that I'm lucky to be living in where I am living right now, I couldn't agree with her. Now, after two weeks of exploration, I find that there are plenty of good food places that are just a few minutes walk away. I am totally spoilt by the choices that I get around here and that makes me a happy girl! *rubs tummy*

And now, after a quick yet satisfying meal, I gotta get back to work.

Another Friday Night in NYC

Last Friday night I was out till 3am on the streets, first time wandering around Times Square and was in awe to find out that the Forever 21 there closes only at 2am! Yesterday, I went to another must-go in NYC, the Empire State Building.

Though the price to get up the 86th floor observatory was a whooping $25, it is still something not to be missed! As dumb as this may sound, the experience of enjoying NYC on the streets and on top of ESB is just incompatible. You'll get a glimpse of 4 different views from each side of the building, each having their own attractions to it.

Me and my friend, Julie were up there around 8.30pm, just when the buildings and streets were starting to light up. My favorite part of the view was the moving yellow cabs in the neatly arranged grid-like streets.

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To me, a Friday night is not to be wasted without good food and company. Me and Julie had a splendid yet simple dinner at Cask Bar + Kitchen. The bill only came up to $25 including tax for the two of us! Considering the type of restaurant Cask was, I can only say I did a good job in not overeating this time.

Top: Wild Mushroom Flatbread; Bottom: Philly Cheese Steak Spring Rolls

Both dishes were the top recommendations on Yelp for Cask. I love love love the flatbread though I only had a bite of it! The taste of truffle oil still lingered in my mouth while I was on the ESB. As for the spring rolls, I think that the kitchen missed out putting cheese in it. Either that or the amount of it was too little for me to even realised!

Anyway, can't wait to turn 21 so that I can have Sangria with all the good food I'll have. Teehee!

Life's good in New York City

Trust me, I've been wanting to update this blog earlier but I always ended up being distracted by something else. There is just so much to do, see and eat in this city! Other than acting up as a tourist, occasionally I must stress, I've been buried by the amount of work from my summer school. By the way I forgot to mention that I'm doing Graphic Design in Parsons. Nothing related to fashion, too bad. But I am still glad that I came here!

The dorm that I'm living during the course of my summer school. After that I'll be staying back for an extra two weeks, homeless.

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One of the awesome restaurants that I've been to so far. Indulged myself in a sort of fancy dinner with Jessica at Social Eatz.

Can't get any more Asian with the napkin.

Jess had their legendary Bulgogi burger while I gave their spare ribs a try. I liked my dish but I just wish there was a side, for their Bulgogi burger it came with Kimchi fries, which was superb by the way.

Food aside, loved the interior and the ambience of the restaurant.

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Thanks to Jess, I was able to get out of Manhattan even on a weekday. We walked over to Brooklyn with the infamous Brooklyn bridge while watching the sun set. Since I landed in NYC, I've seen countless beautiful sunset views. Though it's different from experiencing it on the beach, the colour of the sky is still stunning each and every time.

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Just in case you've been missing my style shot posts, here's one to make it up for now.

Cargo Jacket: Zara
Top: Topshop
Black Skinnies: Topshop
Brogues: Monki
Bag: Zara
Watch: Casio
Accessories: MBMJ & Urban Outfitters (wish I could show a close up shot)

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That's it for now! Can't believe I covered all fashion, food and fotography topics in one post.

Here I am, Big Apple!

3 years ago, while I was applying for my university applications, US never came across my mind as an option because of its tedious process, eg. going through SAT and TOEFL. 2 years ago, I came in UST joining the BBA Global Business program, fully aware of the study abroad opportunity and thought I was pretty much set to be able to explore Europe.

Well things change and sometimes awesome things happen. The school eventually offered me the study abroad opportunity to University of Hawaii at Manoa and my dad decided that he had some extra moolah for me to go to the Parsons New School of Design for the summer. And so, here I am, first time stepping foot in the States and have already been to Hawaii, California and New York. The latter two states which everyone would go hoo-ha about. I'm glad and definitely feeling blessed.

The beautiful skyline as I make my way from Hong Kong to Korea for a 12-hour transit. Stayed a night at the Transit Hotel and was pampered with a huge ass queen size bed all for myself!

Instantly made myself as comfortable as possible, just look at the table. Woke up darn early to grab breakfast and also because a part of me was being paranoid about missing the flight.

So thrilled to finally have authentic Korean cuisine again! I went on to pick all my flight meals to come in Korean style.

It didn't stop there, I even had Korean fried chicken wings as my first meal in New York. By the way, the 14-hour flight from Korea to New York was just painful. I watched 3 movies, slept in the weirdest position and ate like a pig on the flight.

The sun sets while I was making my way back at 8.30pm. I just had the longest day time in my life. Right now I've finally settled down in the Parsons dorm and it was great hanging out the ex-exchanges from UST.

Now, it's time for bed to prepare myself for the orientation.