Trick r' Treat

Disclaimer: I don't celebrate Halloween. I just like dressing up for the day and of course, getting an endless mountain of candies. 

My costume of a gingerbread man was fun and a lot of people loved it, so I thought I would just post a photo of it here. What did YOU dress up as this year?  

My Friend Patty as Santa & I 

A Day in NYC

Highlight of my long weekend: trip to NYC! Although I study in New York, I'm actually 3 hours away  from the city. The trip was supposed to be "academical" (i.e. visiting colleges), but we ate and shopped at Soho for the most part (hey, at least we passed by NYU & Parson). 

Soho- © Google Image

1st Food Stop: Lure Fish-bar. I just had a salmon tartar as I knew that I would be overwhelmed with food later on. 

Salmon Tartar

2nd Food Stop: Baked by Melissa. The special thing about this cupcake shop is that it has the tiniest and cutest cupcakes ever, served in twelve flavors. 

I have never been to Korean Town in NYC; to be honest, I've never even knew there was such a town. We had our final food stops of the day here, including dinner at Wonjo and we stopped by Paris Baguette to take some baked goods home. 

Dishes of Appetizers

Tofu & Kimchi Stew

I had a sip from one of the stews- tasted fine but it was too spicy for me.

Kimchi Pancake

Korean Barbeque

Beef vs. Pork Belly- I preferred beef; sweet and tender.

Special design of typical Korean restaurants- the pipe, which is used to evacuate the smoke accumulated during the barbeque. 

Because that was my second time having Korean food, I got a little too bold and tried all the spicy food.  I ended up with a sore throat and non-stop coughs. Lesson learned: never push yourself to the extreme.

New York City was a great getaway from the mundane city I'm studying in, but if I were to study there, I doubt I could actually concentrate.

Long Weekend x Blue Spice

It is FINALLY long weekend; school seems to have been going on forever because of my heavy workload. I am currently taking a break by... eating, again. My friends and I went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant called Blue Spice tonight. Everyone claimed that it was one of the best restaurants in this area so I was pretty pumped for it.

Theme of this restaurant: blue-colored with "natural" materials like lots of flowers, stones, a wooden floor and Thai-styled embroidered cushions (I doubt they were real flowers). The only thing I didn't like about the design is the kneehole tables, which the restaurant required us to take our shoes off and I foolishly wore a multi-knotted pair of boots.

Thai Iced Tea- US $3

The iced tea was smooth and milky, but WAY too sweet.

Pad-Thai- US $12 

I love the texture of the noodles, but I do not love this over-salty dish.

Because of my saliva phobia, I ordered my own dish. This is what my friends had: 

Fried Ice-cream

My Friends & I- © Vivian Qiao

My friend Crystal & I

I was planning to share a traditional Mango Sticky Rice with Crystal, but they actually ran out of mango. Though I do not eat mangos (weird taste bugs, I know), I was quite shocked that a Thai restaurant could run out of mangos. 

Overall, my dining experience was neutral. Blue Spice's food was authentically Thai, but they were also over-spiced and full of msg, which made me crave for water afterwards.