He told me

"If there's anything you ever thought about doing, you know the things you've always planned to do one day.  Places you want to go, just anything you want to do, I'm going to make it happen.  I'm that person."

First month at dinner at The Japanese Tea Shop in Flushing, New York

She said....

On what she thought a man should be...

"I always thought a man who is tall and strong can give me a sense of security, but I realized none of that matters.  The outside doesn't matter.  But right now I realized...if at the very last second you would use your life to protect me, I think that is very much of what a man is already."



From a female contestant on the show 百里挑一, a popular matchmaking variety show in China.

One of my favorite poems

You Learn 

Veronica A. Shoffstall

After awhile you learn
the subtle difference between
holding a hand and chaining a soul
and you learn that love doesn't mean possession
and company doesn't mean security.
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
and presents aren't promises and you begin to accept
your defeats with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of an adult not the grief of a child.
And you learn to build your roads today
because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans
and futures have ways of falling down in mid-flight.
After awhile you learn that even sunshine
burns if you get too much
so you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure
that you really are strong
and you really do have worth
and you learn
and you learn...

I recited this poem by memory for an assignment back in college.
I think about this poem from time to time.
I've been thinking about it a lot recently.

The Congee Village Review

The Congee Village

Rating: 5 out of 5

Cuisine: Chinese

Location: NYC

Address:

100 Allen Street 

New York, NY 10002 
tel. (212) 941-1818

207 Bowery
New York, NY 10002
tel. (212) 766-2828


I went to both of these locations on Christmas.  I went to the Bowery one in the afternoon.  New York City was Q-U-I-E-T.  It was a beautiful sight, straight out of a movie.  The sun was shining and the streets were yours.  What a wonderful to warm your tummy up with a bowl of congee?  


For those of you who don't know, congee is the equivalent of chicken noodle soup- it warms up your soul and supposedly has some soul healing powers.  Basically, it's a tiny amount of rice cooked with a huge amount of water.


Sounds easy?


IT'S NOT.


YOU try it.


I just got over a fever 2 nights before and having congee seems like a no brainer.  But I hesitate eating this outside.  Because this is one of the cheapest things to cook and no chef seems to cook it well. (It's like food for the bourgeois, because you dilute the rice to fill your stomach.)  But he insisted, 'This is a REALLY famous restaurant.  Their selling point IS the congee.'  I have a pretty good intuition when it comes to choosing things (mostly true!), so we went.  


DON'T LET THE OUTSIDE entrance fool you.  Despite its shabby entrance, the decor inside was completely unexpected.   


Food:  Everything we ordered off the menu tasted GREAT.  We ordered the thousand year old egg and pork congee, a veggie dish called 'dao miu', and something else.  The consistency of the congee was thick and creamy.  It was just slightly salty.  Perfect.  


Price: One order of congee can feed two people.  It cost around 6 dollars.  Most dishes average around 10, so it's very affordable and the food taste great.


Service:  We got our table pretty fast.  I was told it's busy all day everyday.  But because we went at 2pm on Christmas, there's no waiting line.  But it got busy quick.   When we placed our order, we had cancelled a dish right after when we named 5 dishes of food.  Literally, right after.  But when the check came, we were still charged for it.  They took care of it right away and apologized.  You have to wait for around 15-20 minutes for the first dish to come and maybe a bit longer for congee.  Because cooking congee is really tricky.  One tiny flick of a mess up and the whole porridge (congee) is ruined.  Also, this ensures fresh ingredients and trust me- it IS WORTH THE WAIT. and WORTH your money.  


Decor:  It's a really unpretentious and comfortable setting for people to have conversations and eat well.  Mostly wood and soft colors that create a family friendly atmosphere.


Recommended dishes:  Start off with soup dumplings, any of their congee dishes, and dao miu (sorry I don't know what this vegetable is called in English.)


I went to the one on Allen Street during night time at 8.  PACKED.  Waited 20minutes for a table of 5.  Ordered a lot of different dishes and every single one of them tasted absolutely great.  When you eat good food, you'll know the people who cooked this, actually is a chef and not some high school kid putting pre-made stuff together.  You can taste it.  You can feel the difference in texture. 


Now on a final note:  I mean congee is one of the most healthiest foods you can eat.  Great quality of food and cooking.  This is definitely one restaurant you must try before you die.  

Nice wood, great lighting, partitions and I can see a gathered theme the restaurant was going for.

Do you see something that looks like a pair of wings in the background in a glass display?  That's shark fin.  Some Chinese restaurants display this to showcase a sense of pride.  It cost thousands for that size.  Rare to find.  And that brown case above it is a 4 feet long beautifully grown ginseng.  

Great lighting and love the simple wood cutting pattens against a red brick wall.  It makes me feel like I'm eating in China.

Extra pic:

Walking through San Fran

Someone's backyard. Would be great to live here as a kid. To Run around and hide and seek!  Each stair case leads to a different floor.

I literally turn every corner and I just see something amazing.

A local road where no one really walks upon.  Found it through some secret stair steps and it brought me here.

This was taken at the top of the Coit Tower.

So was this one.  I don't know how to rotate a picture on this stupid mac! :(

I literally turn every corner and I just want to capture it.

No building is alike.

The signs reminds me of old days in Hong Kong.

The subway system in San Francisco.  It's called 'The Bart' there. They have marble platform floors!  The inside of the train is carpeted and the seats are cushioned!  You don't see garbage, everyone takes care of the neighborhood!

I'm staying at the Hilton around Chinatown.  I feel like I'm in a movie whenever I step into this place.  To me, this doesn't feel like Chinatown, I feel like I'm in Hong Kong.  

Even their hospital has that China inspired decor.

I was telling myself why are people so interested in NYC? Until I came here, I understood that every single detail that I have seen, I realized that's what defined the city as.  I took NYC for granted, and I may look crazy taking snapshots of literally everything. haha.  But everything here just has that nostalgic feel of when I was a kid growing up in the late 80s-90s in Queens.  

Just take a path without paying attention and you will find hidden windows.

I see a lot of beauty in the streets of San Francisco.

The ever famous Lombard St.  Famous for it's 8 sharpest turns.  I walked uphill.  You NEED sneakers for this.  I captured video footage I might edit and upload.  But to be honest......this isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Some douchebag decided it's best to create one of the most inconvenient roads there ever was and decided to make this a tourist spot of the entire city.  You can google any list and they tell you to come here.  It's a residential spot, so all the doorways along the stairs are to someone's home.... So once you're done walking up or down this road...you take a picture and that's it.

San Francisco has a lot of steep up and down roads which they're known for it.  Great weather of course.  A lot of interesting architecture and road infrastructure which makes the landscape really interesting.  When I was at the Coit Tower, literally every home looked so different from another.  I have video footage of that too on my phone.  I don't know how I will upload that.  It's very clean, interesting and very nolstalgic. 

It is one of those places where you don't mind coming alone.  This is a place where you want to relax and just look around.  Think about things.  Taking peaceful walks and stop by at cafes.

Oh I was at the Coit Tower and they had those penny turning machines.  I was never into it but what the heck, after you take the elevator to the top you have nothing else left to do.  It cost 50 cents to turn a penny, so I was shaking my wallet out for change.  I dropped a dime.  I thought I'd pick it up later since it fell right by my big toe!  But then came this 7ish year old girl who just picks it up and I was about to say 'Thank you' when she yelled out 'I found a dime!' and was TOTALLY oblivious that it belonged to me!  I say TOTALLY oblivious because she ran to her brother and bragged about how she just found money on the floor!  I wasn't mentioned at all while she bragged on LOUDLY for 5minutes.

Anyway,  will blog about the restaurants here.

Walking through San Fran

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King Spa, New Jersey

Picture taken from King Spa Yelp Review

Ratings: 3 out of 5

Location: Palisades Park, New Jersey

'King Spa', aka 'King Sauna' is a public bath spa for both genders.  By comparison to 'Spa Castle', I would give it a 2 out of 5 but I guess this spa has food, saunas, steam rooms and board games, so I decided to give it an unbiased 3 out of 5. Please read on if this caters to you.

Pros: They have valet parking but I believe they also have a shuttle bus.  Check out http://www.kingspa.com/ for more info.  I went on the weekend, so the admission fee is $45.  If you buy a packet of 10 tickets, you get 50% off.  Women's changing and bath section is on the same floor. and Men's changing and bath section is on the third floor.  There are at least one entry way to every area of the building.  Once you enter your changing areas, you take off your shoes and place it on the open shelf.  There are no closings or locks, it is an open shelf.  Then you go to the locker area and find your designated number, you change into their guest uniform and lock it with your wrislet.  The bath area only has 3 stand up shower stalls and around 20 sit down units.  The sit down units are for those who want to scrub their body thoroughly with a special exfoliant cloth.  It has 4 bath pools.  You MUST shower before you go into the bath pools.  One I find is too hot to sit in and one is too cold to sit in.  The last one is a little over lukewarm.  It has a teabag in there, so it does feel pretty relaxing.  The last one by the wall is a mini pool that is very cold, it has a showerhead that pours water straight down in high speed.  They have one steam room and it is bearable without a wet towel on the face.  The seats and walls are not too hot to touch.  It gets pretty hot and steamy for 3minutes then cools down for a minute then back to hot and steamy.  (The best way I can describe it, sorry!)  They also have a small stepping stone area in there.  They only give you one body towel and one face towel to use.  They also have shampoo, conditioner, soap, body lotion, hair dryer, brushes, and hair spray.  There about around 5 sauna rooms.  They have a crystallized steam room, an ice one, an egyptian/gold one, and herbal one, one with intense heat and an infrared red room.  They fit from 5-13 people at most.  There are a lot of lounge areas with comfy leather lean chairs.  A section for men and they have football on.  A section for women where they play Korean dramas and variety shows.  They have a unisex sleeping area as well as designated gender sleeping areas.  They have a bar on the second floor. They also have a fitness area, but that is limited to members only.  They have a  Their restaurant area only serves Korean food and it's in the basement floor.  They go around $10 dollars a meal.  One meal is more than enough for one person. You use your bracelet to pay.

It is equipped with wireless service and has a mini internet cafe section.  There are mini tables with Chess, Cards, and Go (A game invented in China 2,000 years ago.)  Workers are cleaning the wooden floor constantly. The workers there are friendly as well. 

Cons: This is recommended if you want to come alone or with a same gendered friend.  I went with my boyfriend and it doesn't have the mood for couples.  There are plenty of seperate gendered sections where I'm just hanging out by myself.  Football is on, so the guys are glued to it.  You see plenty of computers, so it doesn't have an ambiance of relaxation.  Their decor I think is pretty outdated.  I think this spa was built around 10 years ago, it even appeared on New York Times.  The furniture and uniform looks pretty old and worn.  The sauna rooms all have the same feel and it's too small.  You don't really know the temperature of each sauna room as opposed to 'Spa Castle', the temperature is on the marquee on the door.There's a lot of people over the age of 45 going there.  Also, I prefer stand up showers where I don't have to squat and sit down on those little chairs, but there's only 3 of them.  The towel little cubby board and shoe shelf is not locked.  The bracelet has a physical key attached to it, so it's pretty bothersome.  (That's to open your clothing locker with.)  They only give you one thin towel! Unlike 'Spa Castle' you can use as many as you want.  They only have soap for body wash! And no, you don't get your own individually packaged body soap. It's ONE bar soap in each stall, so it's shared with everyone before you.  The hair dryers are so old and weak.  And they have hair brushes with so much of other's people's hair in them. YUCK!  They have hair picks too but there's no UV sanitizing station.  They don't give you complimentary toothbrushes.  They do however have free toothpaste at the bathroom.  But it's like 7 tubes of them, left OPEN without the cap. YUCK!  There's too many entryways that it's pretty confusing, but I think if I were to go there a couple of more times, I'd get used to them, but what I'm saying is, the structure of the spa doesn't flow smoothly.  They only serve Korean food, which is a headache because not everyone likes it or is in the mood for it!  There are no windows throughout the whole building!  I might be wrong, there may be one...hidden somewhere. 

Verdict: Go to Spa Castle.