Well, at least I’m finally getting around to using all my cookbooks during this time at home! After soaking some cornflakes and making a batch of cereal milk from Milk Bar’s cookbook, I was ready to tackle a bigger project.

So, first up - my favorite Milk Bar cookie, the cornflake marshmallow chocolate chip! While I should have cooled the dough longer, so the cookies wouldn’t have expanded too much, they turned out great! A satisfying crunch, gooey marshmallows, and the sweetness of the mini chocolate chips! I hope to make this one again, soon!

When my roommate heard that Veselka might be in danger of closing, due to the pandemic, we made it a point to have dinner there one random night. I’m of the belief that their meat stuffed cabbage is the closest thing that I can get to a Runza in the city and went for their combo with 2 potato & 2 meat pierogis, and that meat stuffed cabbage in mushroom gravy. Complimented with some chicken noodle soup, a slice of Challah, and a side of potato pancakes with applesauce, caramelized onions, and sour cream.

A full meal and a pleasant outdoor dining experience! I hope they are able to stay around, so we can make another trip soon!

A summer afternoon lunchtime catch up lead to a nice outdoor table at The Smith on the Upper West Side. As we caught up on pandemic life, work, new moves, etc. I filled my belly with some tasty carbs. While I wasn’t quite hungry enough for a burger or full entrée (plus, the squid ink pasta I usually get wasn’t on the menu) - I went for this skillet of mac & cheese with a side of mashed potatoes and a Wolfer Dry Rose Cider.

Every time I see a risotto recipe in Blue Apron or Hello Fresh, I wonder why it’s such a complex dish for chef’s to make on Top Chef? I think the cooking instructions for this summer vegetable risotto must have been pretty decent, as this turned out well.

The addition of a little bit of saffron flavored the rice and I added a touch of garlic salt for a little more seasoning.

A friend of mine recently moved from Nebraska to NJ and into a nice house in suburbia! We made a mutual agreement to be in each other’s “quarantine pods” and I made a trip to NJ for some space, fresh air, and quality time in the burbs.

For dinner, we enjoyed a nice outdoor Chinese meal at Chef Tan in Highland Park. Including these noodles, spicy popcorn chicken, and green beans.

After not being in the office since March 2020, I took some time to meet up with a co-worker and friend for lunch. We met up in Williamsburg at Gentle Perch and while I wanted to try their Korean BBQ Brisket (which was sold out), I was still happy with this fish katsu sandwich.

The fish patty was crispy on the outside and nicely flaky on the inside with lettuce, tomato, sauce and a side of house made potato chips, it was the perfect compliment to the new reality of outdoor dining in the summertime heat.

Since I was stuck in Nebraska during most of NYC’s “opening,” I was happy to to make it back in time for Emily Pizza x Mimi Cheng’s dumpling special!

The Emmy Burger is a thing to behold with it’s pretzel bun, rich beef patty, cheese sauce, and caramelized onions. Well, when they partner with Mimi Cheng’s all of that deliciousness goes into a dumpling wrapper and then pan fried. Top them off with a side of Emmy Sauce and they are truly chef’s kiss!

After completing my 14-day traveler’s quarantine from my return from Nebraska, I ventured into K-Town with my roommate for some KFC (Korean fried chicken)!

Now, while there may be varying opinions on what constitutes “the best KFC” in the NYC area, I love the chicken from BBQ Chicken. They fry their chicken in olive oil for a uniquely crispy taste and their restaurants are featured in many my favorite K-Dramas (Crash Landing On You, anyone?).

I got some boneless original chicken and some tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes // 떡볶이) and we walked to Madison Square Park to sit in the grass, enjoy the fresh air, and devour our meal.

Towards the end of my “traveler’s quarantine,” I decided to tackle my biggest baking challenge yet - replicating the berry crumble buns from Goldenrod Pastries’ Perfectly Golden cookbook! It would be my first time baking with yeast and rolling out dough on my own.

Luckily, I ordered all my supplies from a nearby grocery store and made the berry compote the day before. I spent the morning mixing the dough and letting it rise. Then the afternoon was filled with rolling it out, making the buns, filling them with the berry compote and topping them with the crumble topping & vanilla glaze.

While the buns were a little larger than I imagined, I saved the ends and made some boba to make two small “boba crumble buns.” Everything turned out great & I was able to save a few to give to friends when I finally could go into the outside world again!

A little bit crunchy and soft & chewy on the inside, these toasted gnocchi might be my new favorite way to eat carbs! For this meal from Blue Apron, I had to just toast gnocchi and make some sweet peppers, zucchini, cherry tomatoes and then top it all with some grated Romano cheese.

Delicious and this photo earned raves from the Blue Apron team! maybe one day it will get featured on their Instagram page!

Since I spent a significant amount of time back in Nebraska, the Tri-State area required that I complete a 14-day “Traveler’s Quarantine” upon my arrival back to NYC. If you failed to quarantine and DOS found out, I could be fined $10,000!?

So, I hunkered down with some projects to do around the apartment and took advantage of the neighborhood spots that I missed eating at. Luckily, Roberta’s delivers to my apartment!

A nicely chewy crust with mozzarella, mushrooms, red onions and prosciutto - a perfectly delicious combination!

It’s weird, but I still haven’t found an Indian restaurant in NYC that compares to what you can get at The Oven in Lincoln! (Yes, my other Nebraska-raised friends agree!)

While I was disappointed to find out that my favorite dish, the Reshmi Kabob, contained dairy - I made the small sacrifice to have it before I went back to NYC.

These little boneless chicken chunks are marinated in yogurt and a ginger garlic paste before they are cooked in the tandoor oven. They come laid out on a bed of basmati rice and I always get it with a cup of mulligatawny soup & a garlic naan.

A benefit of being home for an extended amount of time in the summer? Getting to hang out with my extended family for a longer period of time. While the pandemic made it harder, I met up with my cousin, Melissa, and her two daughters for an afternoon ice cream.

To my surprise & delight, 402 Creamery actually had quite a variety of vegan flavors! I chose a scoop of the “Chocolate Squared” - chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks & chocolate syrup and a scoop of the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough. Delicious, perfect for a hot summer day and no dairy issues here!

These little frozen Valentino’s pizzas are saving my summer! For when I don’t feel like cooking and a regular meal is too much, you can get these little 6” pizzas at the “To Go” locations. They bake up in the oven just like if you ordered delivery or take out!

I opted for 3 hamburger and 3 of the Valentino’s “Special” - hamburger, honey-cured ham, pepperoni, Italian sausage and mushrooms. I’m almost drooling thinking of that gooey cheese & crisp crust right now. Good thing I still have a few more in the freezer for later!

Not your typical “fruit salad” - no mayonnaise here! For our 4th of July dinner, Jim brought a cookbook from the Slanted Door and whipped up this jicama grapefruit salad.

We grilled up some turkey burgers, hot dogs, veggies and ended with some angel food cake topped with berries & cool whip. While I didn’t spend the holiday watching fireworks on the Hudson, like last year, I got to spend the day with my Dad and my best gays from high school. A solid night, even if the deck and front yard were littered with fireworks remnants for days to come.

Ok, I realize that I don’t frequent Trader Joe’s that often in NYC - but how did I only just discover their ube mochi pancake mix!? Perfectly sweet and chewy (and slightly blue/purple), it was a great way to start the 4th of July.

A few slices of turkey bacon for something red and topped with some mango salsa. (Ok, so not really anything white…but you get the vibe.)

Generally when I’m back home, I like to meet up with a friend for a meal. However, it’s a little hard in the pandemic.

When my friend, Nick, suggested we get a pizza from MoMo Pizzeria & Ristorante (a new restaurant in Lincoln) - I offered to pick it up and meet him.

We decided on the proscuitto & egg pizza - 3 over easy eggs, fresh mozzarella, pepper & sea salt, extra virgin olive oil, proscuitto and fresh arugula. With so many pizza joints in Lincoln, it might be hard to choose a favorite, but I really enjoyed this pie & it didn’t feel as heavy as a Valentino’s slice!

It’s weird being back in Nebraska - where nothing has really been shut down during the pandemic, after coming from NYC where I’d hardly been out and about from my approx. 700 square foot apartment for weeks.

Thankfully, there’s drive-through all over the city. So, I got my fill of cheesy, cheap Mexican goodness from a local favorite chain. When I was a kid, I loved the chips & cheese (just what it sounds like), cheesy burrito (cheese & beans in a flour tortilla) and the crisp meat burrito. I also couldn’t leave out the crispos for dessert (fried tortilla strips coated in cinnamon & sugar).

Did I feel gross after this meal? Most likely. But I didn’t regret it at all.

Since I decided to go back to Nebraska for a bit, it’s nice that Blue Apron can deliver my meals to Lincoln. At least now, I can make 2 servings at once and Dad can eat one - so I don’t have to save it for later.

For this meal, I tried another “Premium” meal - chicken katsu soy mayo with shrimp & veggie udon. The katsu was surprisingly easy to make & coated in panko bread crumbs. It was more the cooking of two proteins that made it a tiny bit more complicated. The udon was complimented with snow peas, bok choy, togarashi, gochujang and white miso.

I could also see this being a great “date night” meal for dining at home. But maybe one person could make the chicken and the other could do the udon?

Who knew that extracting the water out of a block of tofu would be so difficult!? I literally had to press this tofu between a cast iron skillet and a pan. After it was mostly dry, I tossed it in cornstarch and lightly fried it up.

Add a side of rice and sneap peas with some scallions and you’ve got a delicious meal! Maybe next time I can replicate it with already diced tofu? We’ll see.

Yet another recipe from the Perfectly Golden cookbook from Goldenrod Pastries!

This time I tackled the chewy almond cookies. Just egg whites, almond flour and sugar - easy to make (once you get those egg whites whipped) and super satisfying. I even delivered some to my neighbors, since I shouldn’t eat two dozen of these on my own!

When I heard that one of my favorite K-Town bubble tea stores was delivering, I immediately placed an order!

I got a mini jug of jasmine soy milk tea, 6 cans of thai soy milk tea and a container of boba. What a wonderful way to support a local business while the bubble tea place by my apartment is closed.

Grace Street also sent food & drinks to essential healthcare workers - which made making a purchase that much easier.

Yes, I ordered myself a small Birthday Cake from Milk Bar for my birthday! It might have been a lot for two people to eat, but it was perfect for my Zoom happy hour! (Plus, you can’t beat these bright rainbow colors!)

Did any of us think this pandemic would last more than a month or so? Did anyone think a Global Health Crisis would become a political issue? I certainly did not.

So, here we are at the end of May - headed into Memorial Day Weekend and I’m hosting a Zoom birthday happy hour! At least my roommate ordered this tasty pepperoni & mushroom pizza to share with my from Archie’s! There’s something about those little pepperoni cups that I can’t resist!

I finally got my copy of Perfectly Golden, the cookbook by Angela Garbacz of Goldenrod Pastries!

My brother sent me doughnut pans for my birthday and I got the supplies from our local grocery store. So, with some canned pureed pumpkin, flour, cardamom, cinnamon & sugar - these beauties were born!

Oh, wow! This was definitely one of my favorite Blue Apron meals to date. A perfect blend of carbs in the pasta, savory with the proscuitto and crunch from the bread crumbs.

Al dente mafalda pasta with cremini mushrooms, a tomato paste base, proscuitto and brown butter bread crumbs. I definitely had to control myself from eating both portion in one sitting!

Legit, this meal took a long time to make (and about 10 minutes to eat), but I felt a sense of accomplishment once I tackled this “Premium” Blue Apron meal!

A cheesy snap pea & spinach quiche (yes, the crust was premade) with biscuits, fig jam & whipped ricotta with an arugula salad. While I wish the meal had a little less dairy - it was worth the time and multi-step process!

Yes, I made another order with Supermoon Bakehouse for their “Weekend Care Package”…

This one features:

• Banana croissant toast

• Hazelnut Choux bomb

• Apple pie bear claw

• Super pain au chocolate

• Croissant

• XL passion fruit and poppy seed donut

• Apricot honey cardamom and white chocolate Danish

• Cookies and scream scroll

• Macadamia white chocolate caramel cookie

Delicious and beautiful!

Every year, I take my birthday off work and visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the latest exhibit from the Costume Institute. This year’s theme was CAMP, as in over-the-top dress and the LGBTQIA+ influence on fashion. I didn’t choose to dress completely over-the-top, but rented this dress from Rent the Runway - a very comfortable one from Proenza Schouler White Label! Since the dress was black, I knew I needed some color and chose this track jacket I got from the Line Friends store in Times Square. It’s printed with Brown and friends all over and was a great layer to my birthday outfit!

Thanks again to Andre for taking my photo and at least getting a few good shots!

Just in time for my upcoming birthday, these rainbow glitter pumps from Madewell! When I purchased a 8.5 and they were just a little bit too small, my friend and stylist extraordinaire - Ololade; found them for me in a 9! Yes, I needed to immediately put them on Kira Kira and wear them out!

It was my third time donating my hair to Locks of Love (who make wigs for children with hair loss) and I needed some updated photos for my dating profiles. So, I asked my work husband - Andre to help me out. Luckily, it was beautiful outside and we were able to snap some photos on the cobblestone roads of Tribeca.

BONUS: It was April 30th, so I was wearing my *NSYNC “It’s Gonna Be May” t-shirt! Plus this navy leather jacket from J.Crew Collection, Gap jeans and my go-to high top Converse Chuck Taylors.

Working in downtown Manhattan has it’s perks; especially when Madewell opens a new store within a 10 minute walk from your office! B.Kaspr was on site again to hand-paint leather goods, so I picked up this little black leather belt bag and had him put my monogram on it!

I can’t wait to use this belt bag for going out & when I don’t need a giant backpack or bag to get around the city.

While I was in Chicago for a work conference, I took the time to be a tourist in my old home (circa 2007-2008)! Since the Skydeck didn’t exist when I lived in Chicago, I knew it would be worth a quick trip to the top of the tower. Usually, I’m scared of heights, but this was too good to see!

I knew this Rocko shirt from Forever 21 (the Men’s Department - thank you very much) would be the perfect outfit! Combined with some skinny black jeans and my fav. adidas Stan Smith’s - it made for this great “high school senior photo” moment.

For this anniversary of my Mom’s birthday, I decided to put on my Hello Kitty & Friends high top Converse for a little cheer! While I didn’t swap out the “Hello Kitty” pink shoelaces, Kitty & her friends helped put a smile on my face on an otherwise sad day.

P.S. My best friend’s daughter, Ellie, also has these sneakers! We get to match when we hang out, which is the coolest!

Another great outing with Deirdre! This time we hit up Candytopia in Midtown and were ready for some brightly colored fun! For this photo op, there was a professional camera that snapped the photo and we were ready!

This is a rainbow Madewell courier tie-front shirt, high waisted chewed-hem jeans from Gap and some adidas Stan Smith sneakers.

Who wasn’t enthralled by Beyonce’s Cochella concert!? My work buddy, Charlie, and I decided to match and sport out Beychella gear at the office! All of the step chains reminded me of IIG (our own step chain) from high school! I didn’t understand much about HBUC at the time, but I loved their performances and always wish I was coordinated enough to do one of their routines.

My friend, Deirdre and I love a good interactive experience! One random day after work, we hit up The Egg House on the Lower East Side - perfect timing, as it wasn’t crowded and we were able to take our time in each “room.” I swear, I should just call her my “Instagram Wife”; since she takes the best photos!

This outfit was pretty casual, but some of my favorite pieces: a varsity t-shirt from Everlane, high rise boyjeans from Madewell and my newest acquisition - a FETCH hat from Mean Girls on Broadway!

Yes, I purposely wore a red & blue striped t-shirt for the second night of "Angels in America" on Broadway. I made sure to leave the office in plenty of time to get settled, find the neon angel wings and have a snack before the 4-hour run time of part 2 of the play.

I found a nice couple who was also taking photos near the wings and asked them to take my photo. This was my favorite of the bunch.

When my high school friend, Nan, invited me to his oceanside wedding in Rancho Palo Verdes, CA, how could I say no? I got to leave behind the cold and snow in NYC and spend several blissful days in the California sunshine.

While he told me the ceremony was "business casual," clearly I had the wrong idea of what that meant. Oh well. My friend, Courtney, provided me with a place to stay in Los Angeles and came with me for the festivities.

I found a blush pink "eyelash" skirt from Banana Republic at a bargain for around $25 (originally priced at almost $200) and paired it with my floral embroidered over-sized Madewell jean jacket, an Old Navy top and some Stan Smith's and my little Alexander Wang bag.

Yes, I might have been a tad under-dressed, but at least I was comfortable for the ceremony, dancing and meal that followed.

Originally, I was on the way to Philadelphia to visit friends and to see the annual Flower Show…well, snow and severe weather decided otherwise.

I made it as far as NYC Penn Station before heading back home, to try this again another weekend!

I'd been wanting to go to a Brooklyn Nets game at Barclays Center for years, so "Chinese Heritage Night" seemed like the perfect time to go. I think partially due to Jeremy Lin and partially due to Chinese New Year, the marketing team put this together. 

So, I headed off to the game after work with my friend, Andre, and we went to pick up our free scarves, grab some food and drinks and find our seats.

Granted, the venue was not crowded, so we were able to stretch out in our seats and enjoy the pre-game; including a hype man who announced all the players names and numbers in Mandarin. We watched the game (mostly) and just had a great time reliving great phrases from basketball video games and enjoying the atmosphere.

One perk of no longer working at Madewell is getting to take advantage of all the benefits in the "Insider" program. Of course, I have now achieved VIP status, which comes with shopping perks and free items.

I went to my old store for an Insider shopping party and got this free denim tote. Then, while out for Caitlin's birthday, I couldn't resist taking a photo of how it contrasted with the graffiti-ed wall in the restroom.

A Louis Vuitton and MTV fanny pack from the "Is Fashion Modern" exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. Besides a Patagonia fleece pullover, a pair of high top Chuck Taylors and pins from Pintrill; these fanny packs were some of my favorite pieces from this exhibit.

Fashion is so cyclical, I love seeing what comes back around. Although, this 90's fashion revival seems weird, since I don't feel like it was that long ago that I lived through it. It's hard for me to fathom that I work with kids who were born in the 90's and that they are in their 20's already. (Aren't I still in my 20's!?)

I love when you can find people who "nerd out" over the same things that you do! Luckily, I found two kindred souls at work who are also big Broadway fans!

So, for our office's Halloween party, we went with a Broadway theme: I was Joan from Fun Home, Barbara was a Newsie and Matthew was Evan from Dear Evan Hansen.

I lent Barbara my Newsies bag that I got at the BCEFA Broadway Flea Market and found the pieces for my Joan costume already in my own closet.

Another "twinning" moment for Deirdre & me. Somehow, at the Grand Opening of the new Times Square Gap store, we ended up in the fitting room with the same shirt.

We couldn't resist another photo opp!

My friend's daughter, Ellie, loves calling me "Chenny." So, after not seeing her or her family for a few months, I was worried that she would forget who I was.

It only took a few minutes before she remembered and warmed up to me. And behold! We had matching shoes on too! Her dad jokingly calls me their "Asian Nanny," which I consider a term of endearment, especially when their kids are so cute!

For Election Day, in a nod to Rosie the Riveter, I donned a chambray jumpsuit with a red bandana to vote. 

One day at a time. We're halfway to those important Mid-term elections in 2018 and hopefully, we can turn this country around.

In that sweet spot of Fall before it's too cold to wear shorts and maybe too warm to wear pants; but somehow my buddy, Deirdre and I managed to match at work 

A little bit Gap, a little bit Old Navy; but both white shirts and denim overalls. Perfection.

And, yes, I was wearing all my pins recently acquired from RuPaul's DragCon.

Undoubtedly, Thorgy Thor, was one of my favorite drag queens on RuPaul's Drag Race. As soon as I saw her brightly colored booth at RuPaul's DragCon, I knew I had to get in line to meet her.

I'd been to several of her shows at Metropolitan Bar in Williamsburg, but never had a chance to chat with her and Ragamuffin. She was super friendly and appreciated by Care Bears dress by Ichiban. After all, two rainbow souls deserve each other, right?

For my birthday, my friends, Caitlin & Emily, got me a ticket to a Mets game! While I'm not the biggest baseball fan, I love the atmosphere of sporting events; not to mention the food.

Of course, I had to rock my A.Ham hat from Hamilton, but I also was able to find a great Mets tank top at Old Navy for the occasion. 

And a little blue and orange never hurt anyone.

Happy Summer Fridays! I decided to take advantage of the shorter workday and head over to the Brooklyn Museum and see the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit before it closed.

I didn't know much about O'Keeffe other than her flower paintings, so the exhibit was very informative. I really enjoyed seeing the various garments and pieces that she inspired. One of my favorites was this robe with the rainbow colored stripe.

Sometimes it's annoying setting up tons of work events, but never getting to reap the benefits of them. But this time, I knew I wanted to partake in the 4th of July treats and it was another excuse for theme dressing!

I broke out my new RSVLTS shirt (featuring rocket pops and the State of Liberty) with my Old Navy short overalls and some more themed enamel pins. The mini corn on the cobs and a borrowed beer for this photo opportunity, were the best accessories!