Vacay essential: colorful shorts

T-minus 3 days until my well-deserved beach vacation! One trend I've noticed everywhere this season (and by the recent NYC weather, its officially summer!) are colorful shorts.




Madewell garment-dyed midi-shorts in deep pool



Gap Boyfriend roll-up in Neon Green





J. Crew 7" inch chino shorts



And the shoes?


Dressed up: CL cork wedges



Dressed down: printed jute Soludos



Nasi goreng- some very tasty fried rice!

Currently I am very much craving Nasi goreng, known as "Indonesian fried rice" for those people who are hip with the national lingo. The bf, with his Asian-fied culinary skills, has made this dish for me twice now (perhaps in hopes of widening my horizons for other types of fried rice). The dish is colorful, sweet, spicy, and I could really eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner! What makes it different from other types of fried rice is the additional sauces and spices, which really could be combined in all sorts of variations! See below for more....



Key ingredients: Nasi Goreng sauce packet(spicy!), and kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) and that's right, SPAM.
These ingredients can be found in a local Asian grocery store. Note: Asians love Spam.



Saute the veggies and meats in a wok-type pan.
In order of appearance, we've got shrimp, green and red bell peppers, and SPAM.
Add the nasi goreng sauce packet next.



The rice is added on top and marked with kecap manis soy sauce.
We used fresh steamed Jasmine rice but really any kind will work, as long as its not too moist and soft.

 

Mix everything until the rice turns a nice golden brown color. Serve with your favorite beer...hmmm Sapporo!



Currently Crushing...Rose-Gold

Somewhere in between yellow and white is a sweet hue of gold known as rose gold. It's a common plating on jewelry these days and looks great on every skin tone (or so I'm told!). I saw these two pieces while doing some fantasy online shopping recently... what do you think?

Hermes Kelly bracelet

Why not put down a cool $38,000 for this Hermes Kelly rose-gold bracelet?

MK Tessa Resin Bracelet Watch

Or, watch rose-gold play accent to a tortoise-shell bracelet watch? Perfect for June (rose is the birthflower)! 

Two words: Peacock Lashes

at Sephora

Movie of the weekend: The Avengers

The movie of my weekend was "The Avengers", a kickass turbo-charged movie perfect to herald in the summer blockbuster season. In its second weekend, it has surpassed $1 billion in ticket sales worldwide! My friend over at PopCultureScribe did a fabulous review of it here. For those of you who have not seen the other movies like Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Thor or Captain America, have no fear! The Avengers catches you up to speed quickly and in 2.5 hours tells a very entertaining story of your typical, saving the world from total destruction from a very evil and misforgiving antagonist.

Arthur Avenue

There is a famous street that intersects with 187th Street in NYC known endearingly as the "Little Italy of the Bronx" called Arthur Avenue. My friends and I stumbled upon this goldmine one day on our way back from the NY Botanical Gardens (I stumbled upon this cold cold place once upon a time too).

The street is a wealth of rich old world Italian culture with food (obviously) being the center of all the hustle.. We arrived in the mid-morning and wandered down the street. Our noses led us into Madonia Brothers bakery where a gaggle of Italian grandmothers were dressed in Sunday's finest grabbing their loaf of bread and coffee. Clearly, the Toasted Almond biscotti had my name on it!

We eventually came across Tino's Delicatessen, a specialty store that carries homemade sauces, cold cuts and pastas, imported straight from the motherland. What better place to taste some fresh proscuitto and bring home some baslamic vinegar??

At this point, our stomachs were getting the best of us, but word to the wise: Italian lunch time is typically 1:00pm and there's no warning if a restaurant is closed for a private party! Luckily, there were plenty of friendly people (straight from the set of the Sopranos) in the streets directing us of where we could get the best pasta, pizza and family-style meals!We walked the streets several times over (saying hello to every Italian man on the street: Dominick's, Luigi's, Enzo's, Giovanni's, Michelangelo's, Roberto's) before finding a restaurant that was open.  Mario's restaurant , an establishment since 1919, lends veracity to its claim "Where Celebrities Dine" with a  picture of James Gandolfini hanging on the wall. They have all of the Italian staples like Spaghetti Bolognese, Chicken and Veal Parm, Osco Busco, endless ravioli options... and with the restaurant's owner in the corner reading his Sunday newspaper, who could ask for a more Italian kindo f day?? Bon appetit!  

25 Stunning Cityscapes on Instagram

Saw this on Mashable the other day: 25 "Stunning" Cityscapes on Instagram

Come on, shouldn't I be in this too? This view is truly stunning: leaving NYC to go into New Jersey!





Running Running around

My high arched footprint

I was strolling along Madison Avenue today and came across this specialty running shoe store with a large amount of shoes on sale displayed on the street. I grabbed a few pairs in my size and ran inside to try them on. I've always known that there's an entire science and culture behind running shoes but have never really dedicated any time to understanding what it was all about. Don't get me wrong,  I do my fair share of running around my favorite run in Central Park. But have never properly gotten fitted for a pair properly. 

Inside the store, the sales clerk asked me what model of shoes I wear now to run in. I immediately disclosed myself as a running novice (i.e. big dollar signs in his eyes, easy sell!) barely covering 5-10 miles a week. He evaluated my arch and weight and grabbed a few models from the back. He mentioned that light-weighted, normal-high arched runners fit best into a neutral cushion shoe. Whatever that means.... I threw on these comfy sneaks and felt like I was walking on the moon! I'm also a sucker for a good deal and at 50% off and the Harry Potter reference, the Asics Gel Nimbus 13 were mine!

Naturally, the first thing I did when I got home was to investigate what the Internet has to say about all this. Runnersworld.com has a wealth of information from determing your arch type via the "Wet Test" as well as figuring out the best shoe for you (see below). 

Now, let's see how the Nimbus 13 fared, eh? 

Known as the down comforter of running shoes by Runnersworld.com... I'll take that as a good thing!

Indeed the extra layers of gel and foam make for a super cushioned shoe. They are also incredibly lightweight, coming just under 12 oz.

Update: took these puppies on a spin yesterday around the park. They are heaven! The left shoe seems to be a bit tighter but I loosened the laces and it seemed to be alright.

Where I'll be in a month...

here!

Take me back to San Diego!

This is long overdue (forgive me!) but I recently enjoyed a little slice of heaven in the great city of San Diego. Though the California weather didn't hold up too well, I was impressed by the amazing quality of food & restaurants in the area we were staying in (the Gaslamp District). Let the pictures speak for themselves...

Proscuitto and tomato, mushroom baked omelette with butter on toast and fresh Cali fruit.-Cafe 21

Cafe Chloe

French water bottle from 1895. Put my glass of grapefruit mimosa behind  it for the neat lighting effect.

  

A pair of poached eggs with wild mushrooms and wild green salad...yum!

Chocolat Creperie...

 

....featuring Creamy decadent gelato!

On the last day, it was nice enough outside that we got to see the sunrise. These trees could definitely be in considered #strangetrees, don't you think?

Something that made me smile

ACP Cartoon caption contest.

"Just as I suspected: ST-rex segment elevation."

The runner-up: "I know what you mean. There aren't very many of us solo practitioners around either."