There's primarily two reasons why I love New York so much:

1. Food
2. Atmosphere

When you combine these two things together in one place it might as well be heaven. As mentioned in my previous post, Andrew (Brian's friend) had made a promise to the both of us that he would take us out to a flea food market later that evening (click here to read previous post). Hearing that, we were half ecstatic, but also half worried at the same time because we couldn't even bear to imagine how in the world would we be able to stomach even MORE food. Regardless, an experience is an experience so we decided to mentally (and stomach-ally) prepare ourselves for the feast...

There's really not much I can say about the Smorgasburg food market besides that it actually happens every Saturday at Williamsburg during the Fall and Spring time. They have over 100 vendors that sells and display their top picks from their restaurants. Not only is this a great way to really introduce and market their products out to the public, they make quite a bit of money from being a part of this flea food market as well. I believe Andrew said that a few of the vendors DO raise the prices of the dish that they sell at the festival so you might be paying more than what it's actually selling for at the local restaurant. Regardless, it's the experience that matters, right? Most of the food prices ranged between the $3-$10 mark so it wasn't TOO overly priced, but portion wise it's almost like a "deluxe sample" of the actual dish.

Anyways, I'm going to stop yapping away now and let my photos do the work for me. You've been warned... Lots of goody fatness coming your way!




The festival is held outside and you can enjoy the sights of the city while gorging on your food. Please ignore how dark these photos are... It was actually very cloudy and gloomy that Saturday evening (a storm was coming...).

Last weekend I spent my time at a lovely neighborhood up in Brooklyn, New York. Brian and I stayed with one of his old high school friend, Andrew, who lived in the Greenpoint area of the city (or as he liked to call it, the "old Polish farts" neighborhood due to the extensive amounts of the older Polish generation living there). We mainly slept at Andrew's place and for the most part walked to Williamsburg for our adventures. Williamsburg is an up-and-coming area of Brooklyn, according to Andrew, because of all the hip and trendy individuals that are starting to migrate to this neighborhood to live. This was one of the first time I have ever visited Brooklyn and it won't be my last.








The first thing you'll note about this part of the city is that it is completely modern. Not that New York City itself is bland, but there really are a lot of colors in Brooklyn. From the festive wall arts, to its' distinctly artistic individuals--this neighborhood does not fail to impress. When I walked around Williamsburg I was utterly in shock at the amount of young people that caroused pass me. I swear, the oldest person I walked by had to be atleast... 35 years old, if anything. With such a shockingly vibrant atmosphere it is no doubt that the dwellers are a bit more "expressive" than what I was used to back in D.C.

Brian and I arrived late Friday night and went for a little "eatery" experience with Andrew. Andrew practically dragged us around Williamsburg at 11 PM at night to atleast 3 different restaurants so we could test out the famous dishes that each of them are known for. Unfortunately I was so tired from the 5 hour drive up to New York that I didn't want to lug my camera around hence no photos were taken. The restaurants we stopped by were: The Meatball Shop, Crif Dogs, and Oasis. It was a hefty night for my tummy to handle, but a delicious one! My favorite definitely had to be The Meatball Shop which I will find myself visiting again next time when I am back up there.

The morning of Saturday we stopped by a local bar called Raizes and not to drink of course, but to grab breakfast. This place seriously had one of the best pancakes I have ever tried.








After breakfast was done, Andrew left Brian and I alone to explore Brooklyn, but made us a promise that he will take us to the Smorgasburg Flea Food Market later that afternoon. We knew that spending time with Andrew only meant getting fatter by the minute so we were sort of ecstatic to give our tummy a break... lol. Andrew does Muay Thai so you can imagine the shape that he is in to be able to down several hefty meals per day. Unfortunately, both Brian and I rarely exercise (well, actually, I rarely exercise, LOL) so we felt rather sluggish after breakfast. We decided that the best way to get our exercise in before going to the flea food market was to walk around Williamsburg and truly see the sights. Not enough can be said about the atmosphere that is Brooklyn. It definitely has that "down-to-earth" vibe that you won't get if you lived in the city.

For lunch we decided to play light and grabbed some juice at Grass Roots. I opted for something healthier--organic green juice filled with celery, romaine,cucumber, parsley, spinach, kale, and a dash of apple to sweeten.










This is the end of the part one of my Brooklyn trip! Part two will be filled with tons of unhealthy delicious snacking at Smorgasburg! :) You've been forewarned!

Sundays have definitely been on my recent list of "loves" when it comes to the weekends. Waking up past 12pm might seem like a waste of time to some people, but to me it's really the only opportunity I get to be a couch potato *nervous laughter*. One of the many activities I enjoy doing on this splendid day of the week is waking up to the aroma of sweet, scented coffee. Drag this alongside with me while I cuddle up against my bed watching Chuck has been a great stress-reliever. I've been trying to slowly dwell back into the world of caffeinated drinks (specifically coffee) after giving up this addiction for the Lent season. Having the chance to blow the dust off my Keurig machine is a complete thrill because I did indeed miss my baby (can you imagine all the pathetic pouts I made each morning while I'm in the kitchen eating breakfast without a cup of a coffee?). Lately my heart has been stolen by this one specific K-Cup flavor from Gloria Jean's Coffee:





The deliciousness that is a flavored cup of Macadamia Cookie coffee.

At first I was quite hesitant to try out something that sounds so sickly sweet--A cookie flavored coffee AKA diabetes-on-the-move. Now I'm glad that I actually took the plunge and surprisingly, the first sip had me HOOKED. Add in a bit of almond milk and perfection is created... It's like they somehow took a batch of hot out of the oven cookies and smushed it with coffee beans to create this miracle drink!

It's really within these moments of my life that makes me smile whenever I read back on my past posts. Being able to capture the essence of my everyday routine in photographs might not be all too exciting for some (pffffttt, a coffee cup!), but to me, it is extremely enthralling. These pictures are healthy reminders of what makes me happy on a sunny Sunday afternoon. :) Really guys, it's the simple things that can make the world go round. In my world at least.

Bakeries, specifically Korean bakeries, have always held a special place in my heart. My eyes sparkle at the sight of a new bakery territory that I have yet to discover. Often times my favorite bakeries are in New York City so that's quite a bit of a hike to grab hold of my favorite sweets. Luckily for me, one of my favorite bakery, Tous les Jours, opened up a shop right near my house. It's an intensely modernized take on a bakery as the actual decoration of the shop is more of a lounge-around sort of atmosphere. Unlike the location in New York, this one is HUGE in comparison. Brian and I usually like to stop by this bakery after a heavy dinner to sit back and enjoy a quick bubble drink or coffee. It's also a plus that the seats here are very very comfortable. I think I was almost falling half asleep while sitting there...


Places mentioned;

Photos taken with smartphone - Samsung Galaxy S3.

I'm a sociable person by nature--I love yapping away and meeting new people when given the opportunity to. By heart, I'm quite an introverted individual and rather reticent. When I take personality tests I often come out to be an extrovert, but honestly speaking, I often select the answers I want to able to do and not necessarily ones that I do do. Hence, my "results" are not accurate 70% of the time.

I've noticed lately that ever since I graduated from college, I have definitely chosen to lock myself back into my room to never see the light of day (until I go to work in the morning at least). Truthfully, I kinda enjoy doing this as depressing as it sounds. After being as sociable as I was during college and staying on campus to play past midnight, it dawned on me that it was really time for me to grow out of that lifestyle. There are a few alumnis that I know who are still so much involved with the college community that they visit our campus almost every week! To me, that sounds a bit tiresome... I mean, you were stuck in that college hell hole for four years, why would you want to go back? LOL. I guess to each their own, but for me I rather like the placidity that is my life at the current moment hence my introverted side has definitely been more in-tune as of late. Now, regardless of my personal choice to remain a freak-of-nature that does not see sunlight, that loud-headed and flamboyant Thuy comes out once in awhile because it craves attention (like any true extrovert), so I find myself reaching out to people a lot of the times to hang out. I like to keep my friendships close and even if the people I end up having dinner with aren't my bestest of friends, I simply like the idea of keeping in touch and getting back into their lives. I was in it once and if I was happy, why not mingle back into it again? And because of this thought and the urge to visit my old friends, I was able to arrange a small get-together with a few of them at Miso.

WARNING: Food heavy!







It was a great meal with very intriguing conversations. I say intriguing because I do enjoy seeing how my friends have changed and grown over the past few months of not seeing them. With these girls specifically, I've known them since I was in freshman year of high school... so 8 years later we are still able to sit in one place together while chattering away about our lives. Sometimes these meetings do get me depressed because 100% of the time I am reminded of how much I am aging... (WAHHHH). Regardless, I think everyone needs these types of social gatherings once in awhile. A time to really dwell back into your past through the people that you've grown up along and aside with. It can really help you in recognizing your own personal growth and developments while giving you a chance to analyze if who you are today is who you really want to be.

There's something very homey about eating at Dim Sum restaurants. Maybe it's the constant screaming of food orders, waiters/waitresses running frantically around, or little kids causing havoc because parents can't control their own children! I guess the hustle and bustle reminds me of the busy streets of New York City. When I'm craving for some comfort food I go for Dim Sum, hence I decided to drag Brian out to a nearby Dim Sum restaurant called A&J. Unlike other Dim Sum restaurants, this place is not as hectic and doesn't feel as if you're stuck in the middle of a street down at Chinatown. Instead of having carts being pushed around and having customers randomly pick on their choices of food, A&J is more of a sit down restaurant that serves Dim Sum dishes for cheap prices and the quantity is RIDICULOUS. You order from a menu and the waiter/waitress brings out the food like any other typical restaurants.

And since I knew I was going to pig out and probably have a huge bloated stomach by the end of the meal, I decided to dress in a loose-fitting Peter Pan collared dress. Here is what I wore for a devouring session of delicious foodsies!