10 posts tagged “friends”
Yesterday (which was just an hour ago) was my 23rd birthday - the beginning of the age when we are expected to suddenly go from college students to being grownups. How intimidating! Things have been going quite smoothly in my work life, and in the next few weeks I will make my final decision about which medical school I will be going to this fall. Maybe the continued schooling will give me an excuse to be a "student" for another few years :)
I had a chance to celebrate my birthday early with my family this week. We had a cake freshly decorated for us from the only Chinatown bakery that was still open at 8pm on a Sunday night, so I'm quite grateful that I got a cake at all haha. The decorator made me a bull out of whipped cream on top of the cake, since I was born in the year of the Ox. It was done quite well if I do say so myself - I really liked the cute chocolate accents :) I was originally tempted to make my own cake, but you never make your own birthday cake heh. The cake had a mixed fruit filling, and the sponge cake layers were soft. I wasn't terribly fond of the whipped topping, as it was more fluffy and marshmallow-y than I would have liked, but the flavors came together pretty well. My family and I enjoyed the cake with some freshly brewed aromatic white tea that my dad brought back from China this past week, mmm.
That said, the meal I had tonight was still as amazing as Shino's has always been. I didn't really notice the flavor of the brown rice. It might have been slightly more chewy, but it definitely was a subtle difference (grr, not one I'd want to pay for), which is good because I was so worried that brown rice would ruin the sushi experience. I had a regular salmon roll, a crispy eel roll (eel, avocado, cucumbers, flying fish roe, and topped with mayo and crispy tempura bits drizzled in unagi bbq sauce), and one of their specials, the Boston lobster roll (avocado cucumber roll topped with warm baked lobster mixed with chopped raw red onions in a wasabi butter sauce). The rolls were all amazing, with fresh and fatty fish that melted in my mouth. The lobster roll is one of my favorites because it has such a unique flavor - the wasabi butter sauce really brings together everything in that roll, and it really is a monster to behold with all that lobster! My boyfriend also got a shrimp tempura roll which he said was really good too. Mmm I really wish I could go back to the days when Shino's was cheaper...
After dinner we went to Cheesecake Factory for some dessert - the Godiva chocolate brownie sundae :) Deliciously rich and a perfect end to a wonderful birthday dinner. I never knew this, but apparently Edy's makes a special vanilla ice cream specifically for Cheesecake Factory to use in their desserts. I wonder what exactly is different about it...
Thanks for a nice birthday dinner Greg! Gosh, I still can't believe I'm 23 already... time just passes so fast. There are so many things I'm looking forward to this year, and I'm also sad to be leaving Boston in just a few months. It really is a wonderful city filled with an endless array of amazing places for every taste. I am certain that the years I have spent here will be fond memories I carry with me forever.
It's not often that you see any posts on my Vox about breakfast, considering that I go to work at about 10am each morning, which means that I wake up at 9:30 and basically roll out the door haha. But every now and then, I like to enjoy the pleasures of a hot breakfast or brunch. There's just something so sinfully joyful about waking up on a lazy Sunday morning to a plate of fluffy pancakes and eggs and a mug of hot coffee. I have woken up on weekends to make breakfast before, but it's a lot of work early in the morning, and I always seem to have the problem where by the time I finish one item, another item has already gotten cold, and microwaving breakfast is just wrong. So when I really want fresh, hot breakfast, I look to the small mom & pop diners around Boston that offer no-frills cheap breakfast options (I have always felt that breakfast at chain restaurants like IHOP lack something, that homemade touch and flavor that little diners have).
One of my favorite hole in the wall diners is Sunny's Diner in Cambridge, just a few blocks outside of MIT's campus. It's no glamorous cafe, and I used to walk past this place without paying much attention, until I heard from some friends who came here religiously. This tiny little diner is so popular among MIT students that it is almost always packed in the mornings, especially since it only stays open until 2pm each day. The food is your traditional diner breakfast and lunch fare, and the prices are very reasonable for the amount of food you get (most breakfast plates are about $5-6 each). Anyway, my friend Zheng came up to visit from NYC this weekend, and when he mentioned that he wanted to grab a good brunch, I told him that I simply had to show him this little gem. So today, a terribly cold and windy Sunday morning, we braved the elements and made our way to the cozy inside of Sunny's Diner.
Where to start?!? The eggs, I asked for over easy, and they were done perfectly, with the yolks still runny and both sides cooked to tenderness. The home fries, they were amazing. I usually am not a big fan of home fries, because other places tend to make them too greasy, too soft, too heavily seasoned, too potato-y. But these were great, because they had that satisfying crunch on the outside that yielded to the soft fluffy potato inside, just like a big delicious french fry. They didn't need any extra salt either, and was not overly herb-y, which I really liked. And the sausage, it was one big link sliced in half and seared with a light crust on the flat side, juicy and savory without being too fatty or too processed. Yummm. And finally, the pancakes. I was sitting at the bar, so I got to watch them make all my food right in front of me on a big griddle, and what I love about Sunny's Diner is how everything is done as if it was done at home. They make small batches of batter at a time, and the cooks and waitresses have time to chat about anything while you wait at the bar. My chocolate chip pancakes came to me piping hot and fluffy, dusted with powdered sugar and with the butter melting on top as I eagerly reached for my fork. They were delicious, fresh, and simple... IHOP has nothing on these pancakes!
Admittedly, by the time I was done with that gentle giant, I was pretty much unable to get up from my seat. But it was such a satisfying meal I really wouldn't have changed a thing. It was definitely worth the massive food coma that followed and the blast of cold air that greeted me as I regretfully left the diner. Besides, I really can't think of any better way to catch up with an old friend than casually chatting over a hot plate of breakfast. Mmmm....
Last night my boyfriend and I went to Dali, a tapas bar located near Boston, to celebrate four years together. I had been dying to try a real tapas meal for the first time (aside from the appetizer I had with Reid at Bocado), and after reading all the stellar reviews for Dali, I was sold. Everyone mentioned how wonderful of a date place it was and how amazing the food was, so it sounded like the perfect restaurant for celebrating a special occasion. So during the day yesterday, I was browsing through Dali's online menu, trying to think about which dishes I wanted to try, and by the end of the day I have to say my mouth was watering with anticipation. Since tapas tend to be pricey ($5-10 for a small portion), we decided to limit our meal to 6 dishes. After comparing notes, we decided on 6 dishes that we were both interested in trying, and off we went towards Dali!
(disclaimer: I was unable to take any pictures at Dali, but just to give a little flavor of the night I have included a couple of pictures that I did not take)
I was able to get to Dali via public transportation, as there was a bus line that had a stop literally right outside Dali's front door. How convenient! The exterior of the restaurant was not very lavish, and actually made the place look very small (albeit quaint). I thought it was interesting that the entrance to the place was located at one corner of the restaurant, which made it a tight squeeze for patrons to get in and out of the place.
We started off with a glass of Sangria each, which was nice and fruity, although I'm not terribly fond of red wine, which is the dominant flavor in Sangria. I think I liked white wine Sangria better. Next time I might try the Cava Sangria that Dali offers (I believe it's champagne-based). A small bread basket came soon after, with a bit of garlic hummus for spreading. I'm not that big on hummus myself, but I thought it went well with the bread, which was crusty on the outside, but soft and chewy on the inside (it would have made for great fondue-dipping bread).
Next came our first tapas dish: tortilla espanola, which is a cold tapas described as an egg/potato/onion omelette. In actuality, it was much more like a slice of a crust-less quiche, but with an equal ratio of eggs to potato to onion, and without cheese. I was really fond of this dish, as it reminded me of a Chinese breakfast item that I've eaten before. In any case, it was not cold, but rather just mildly warmed, and came topped with some soft tomatoes and red peppers, which went perfectly with the omelette, whose flavor was lightly salty... quite savory for something that only has eggs, potatoes, and onions in it. I also really liked the thin skin surrounding the slice, which was nicely browned and slightly crispy egg.
The second dish that came was costillas de vaca, which is beef short ribs in a Rioja wine sauce. This hot tapas is normally on the late night tapas menu, but we were surprised to find it available for dinner, and so we were definitely excited to try it. We got two big meaty pieces attached to 2 segments of rib bone, sitting in a lovely brown sauce with stewed vegetables. The beef itself was completely tender and falling off the bone, and well-marinated with a mixture whose wine flavor I could taste quite prominently. It was a great balance of salty, sweet, and tart. We also dipped our bread pieces into the wine sauce, and concluded that the sauce plus the stewed vegetables tasted kind of like beef stew, but the beef itself had that different flavor from being marinated.
After the first two dishes, the next 4 came out together, and we were tempted to try a little bit of each thing. Our second and last cold tapas dish was a patatas ali-oli, which is cubed potatoes in a homemade garlic/caper mayonnaise. The potatoes were boiled and cubed, then tossed in the described mayo dressing, then sprinkled with a lot of a green herb, which may have been dill, but I couldn't tell. The flavor of garlic was very strong in this dish, as it was a raw garlic flavor. Greg really liked it, because he found the potatoes and garlic to be refreshing. I would say this was my least favorite dish of the night (though it was by no means bad), just that it reminded me exactly of the potato salads that my mom likes to make, so it wasn't that exciting or new of a flavor to me.
Next we had vieiras al azafran, which is scallops in saffron cream. This was a simply fabulous dish, where we got 7 large scallops smothered in a fragrant seafood cream sauce that was lightly charred by a torch prior to serving. The scallops were deliciously tender, and the sauce was what made the dish so amazing. It was infused with a rich flavor that reminded me of lobster (in fact, I felt like the sauce was a thicker version of lobster bisque), but at the end of each spoonful you could taste the lovely aromatic contribution from the saffron. Just absolutely wonderful. We ate the scallops slowly, and dipped our bread into the sauce until it was all gone. Mmmm....
For our poultry dish, we ordered codorniz de castilla, which is broiled herb and garlic quail stuffed with bacon. The stuffed quail was rather small, about the size of my fist, with small legs and wings extending from it. It was de-boned except for the legs and wings, so it was easy to split up. There was bacon rolled up inside the cavity of the quail. Quail meat has a really nice smoky flavor that was definitely different from chicken but not gamey in any way. Its savory and smoky flavor made it a great pairing with the bacon, and the dish came the drippings from bird, which were great as well. And it was certainly interesting eating a tiny little quail drumstick haha.
Finally, and I saved the best for last, we got queso rebozado con miel, which was a dish of fried Spanish cheese with honey and sweet onions. This dish was amazing. You got three small round cheese nuggets about one inch in diameter each, and they were lightly breaded and fried so that the outside was crispy, yielding to a soft and smooth cheese interior. I'm not sure exactly what kind of cheese it was, but it had a flavor that was similar to goat's milk cheese, except not as strong, and it was quite creamy. But it was exactly this tart similarity to goat's milk cheese that made the cheese pair so perfectly with the sweetness of the honey and the delicate softness of the sweet caramelized onions. I was absolutely in heaven eating this dish, and I only wish I could have had a second plate of it haha. It was a great dish to finish off the meal with as well, since it serves so well as a dessert dish.
Whenever I come home for breaks, I make it a point to meet up with old friends from high school, since most of us have traveled to various corners of the country for college and rarely get to see one another except for during breaks when we are all back in town. My friend Reid and I have kept up this tradition for five years now, getting together a few times a year, catching up, enjoying each other's company when there's nothing else to do in my hometown, and sharing some good times of course. As I look back fondly on our times in high school, we have certainly grown and changed a great deal since going to and finishing college. But there are aspects of ourselves that never change, and then there are those aspects of us that grow together. I'm glad to have the chance still to continue to nurture this friendship and watch us step out into the real world and fend for ourselves.
Last night, Reid and I went out for the night, stopping first at pretty much the only Thai restaurant in my hometown for dinner. The pad thai there was flavored just right, but the noodles were much too mushy for my preference. I enjoy a little chew to my noodles. I tried to order duck pad thai, but the waitress insisted that it wouldn't taste good (um... that must be why I love getting duck pad thai elsewhere...), so I stuck with chicken. After spending nearly 2 hours in the restaurant chatting away, we headed out for dessert at Friendly's. It's a pretty popular haunt in my hometown, because it's located everywhere, and has both food and dessert at a very reasonable price. Surprisingly, there are no Friendly's in Boston, which made me a little sad. Anyway, I was craving a brownie sundae, so I ordered their fudge brownie sundae, which came with chunks of dense brownies that were not heated up, layered between scoops of chocolate ice cream and hot fudge. I think that was a bit too much chocolate, as I was completely chocolated-out by the time I finished it haha.
Then we went to a movie theater to watch Charlie Wilson's War, which was actually pretty entertaining. I was little bit lost at first, as the film moves fast with brisk dialog and lots of history and politics spun in, but I found the movie to be quite witty and as always, I loved Tom Hanks. You almost start to forget that this was based on a true story, and it's not until the end of the movie that you realize how relevant the content of this movie is to the present state of the world, and then you feel a little sad that so much has resulted from one political mistake at the end of the Cold War.
We didn't quite want to call it a night, so Reid took me to a tapas bar in town that he really liked, called Bocado. It was a trendy, semi-upscale lounge type of bar, and I really liked the atmosphere inside: ambient, busy but not too noisy, roomy, with an air of sophistication but not snootiness. I had never had tapas before, since they tend to run on the expensive side, but we just got an appetizer, which was a roasted garlic, spinach, and feta dip served with warmed pita wedges. I got a sparkling mojito and he got a mango flavored Sangria, both of which were delicious.
The appetizer was also great, although I wish they had given us more pita wedges to go with all the dip we got. It was definitely a nice place to go and relax, and probably also a great first date place as well, which is surprisingly difficult to come upon in my hometown.
Finally, in noting that my glass is empty in the picture below, I would just like to add that I have the rare but coveted resistance to Asian glow :) I have no idea how, as both my parents tend to turn red, but I'm certainly not complaining haha.
So the past few days I've been visiting California to interview at Stanford and to see some college friends. The weather was amazing, it felt like Boston's spring. The sunshine was warm, there were palm trees, and dusty mountains in the distance everywhere I went. Stanford itself was the most extravagant campus I have ever seen. They really spend a lot of money spoiling their kids lol (maybe me one day?). The sunny happiness of the students being in a country club-like campus and a relaxing curriculum was really infectious. They were literally all smiles, and every student I met couldn't seem to shower the school with enough praise. I have yet to see a school where the students were this much in love with their school (Rochester and Dartmouth are distant seconds).
After seeing Stanford, I had time grab dinner with my friend Tony near the school. We walked up and down the main street with restaurants, and finally decided to stop in at a place called University Cafe, which served American food at a moderate price. First came a bread plate with a tomato-based dipping sauce (I couldn't figure out why it was orange, but it was similar to a marinara I guess). The bread itself was too hard on the outside, and a little soggy in the middle, but it still tasted fine because we were both starving lol.
So today is the day that I walk with my classmates of the past four years down the aisle in Killian Court and receive our hard-earned bachelors diplomas. We had to get up really early to assemble for our procession into the ceremony area, and I was up late the night before playing Starcraft with my friend Tony haha. Naturally when I got up with only 4 hours of sleep on my graduation day I was cursing myself for making such a dumb decision the night before. The day was a bit of a blur as friends weaved in and out of my day, and I tried to capture as many pictures with as many of them as I could. My family came to the ceremony also, and I think it was as much of a proud day for them as it was for me. I originally thought that I'd get bored during the 4 hour ceremony, 3/4 of which consisted of handing out diplomas to the 2000+ people that graduated that day, but it actually flew by surprisingly quickly. My heart was pounding as my classmates and I lined up row by row to go up to the podium and accept our diplomas, and it was truly exhilarating, despite knowing that I'd be staying next year for a year of grad school. As I write this entry weeks later, I'm already feeling terribly nostalgic, and really missing the presence of all the familiar faces. Sure, it's summer and many students are gone, but the campus suddenly feels empty and lonely. Even though I get to talk to my friends online, I can feel how far away they really are. And the thought didn't hit me until my graduation day, the fact that these amazing people I've met are really and truly leaving here. Some of them may never come back. Many of them I will never hear of or see again in my life. Faced with this truth I feel terribly sad (I am a sentimental soul), and I can only hope that one day I will see many of them again at our class reunions... How far away it all seems!
Well, enough soul-baring. Here are some pictures from my big day (graduation hats look really unflattering on my face for some reason):
We arrived early to line up our appropriate procession order, so I was mostly with my fellow biology majors and having some great times talking about how excited we were and how we've come so far.
It was a beautiful sunny day for our graduation, and for that I am grateful. Graduation gowns are unfortunately really hot and uncomfortable, so everyone was complaining most of the day from the heat. Here we are walking towards Killian Court, with a few random stops along the way. During the stops my friends and I played a word called called Contact, which is basically a super hard version of 20 Questions. Our procession was quite a sight to behold though, so many people dressed in various colored gowns representing different degree types, and so many bodies all walking in the same direction! Heh I refer to the procession fondly as the "march of the penguins" :)
This is where our ceremony takes place each year. My parents got a picture of it while the seats were all still empty. There are well over 5000 people that come for the ceremony, so many seats!
It kind of sucked that this year our graduation speaker was our previous MIT president! I know a lot of people were upset that we didn't get a speech from someone more famous, who could bring a different perspective. Charles Vest hasn't done anything since he left MIT a few years ago, and even though he's ABOUT to start a new position, he still has nothing new to share with us. Sure, his speech was motivational, as they all are. But I do hope for someone more interesting to learn from next year.
I spent the weekend after graduation at home, so we'll get back to the food entries next :) Well, that's it, I've graduated!
(6/06) Lunch cruise in Boston harbor! Our class rented out half of the well known Spirit of Boston cruise ship for a lunch cruise in Boston Harbor today. It was to be casual dress, and parents were invited to come along with the seniors if they so choose. I was excited to finally be on that cruise ship again during the daytime, so I could actually SEE the harbor (the last time I was on this same cruise ship for a nighttime cruise on Halloween, called Boo's Cruise). This lunch cruise was to last 2 hours, and would be serving a buffet style lunch with various entrees, as well as dessert afterwards.
Being the food lovers that we are, Greg and I made a beeline for one of the tables closest to the buffet area to be seated as we entered the ship (I'm not even kidding, we passed up tables next to the windows with great views just to sit near the food in the center of the room). Hahaha. The big shiny lids of the food trays were tempting us with their secrets beneath, we could barely wait to see what was inside.