Ken and I flew from New York to San Diego and ended up arriving around the same time as his sister, Teresa. We all drove to the hotel together and ended up ordering some late night food at the hotel restaurant, California Bistro. We ate a lot on the flight (thanks to my ability to pack a ton of grapes, hummus, carrots, and other healthy snacks) but we were still in the mood to have a little to eat before going to sleep for the night. Ken ordered the turkey club with fries:
And I ordered the Cobb salad:
Both really good options from the hotel bar – they also have live music on the weeknights (at least when we were there – maybe just for the holidays) and there were a lot of guests at the restaurant who weren’t staying at the hotel, just there for drinks or a late night snack!
The Friday before we left for San Diego, we went out to dinner with Jason and Allison, Ken’s coworker and girlfriend. We went to Abe & Arthur’s in the meatpacking district because Allison really liked their dessert and we had a really good Gilt City voucher for steaks and sides so we figured it would be the perfect double date dinner spot. The restaurant was packed on a Friday night – we sat by a huge table of teenagers who were celebrating a birthday (or multiple birthday’s?) and also a bunch of guys celebrating a bachelor party. The service was really wonderful and the food was better than I thought it would be – here’s the whole cauliflower, steak for two, mushrooms, and pureed potatoes:
For dessert, I missed the shot but we ordered the cheesecake in a jar and another chocolate dessert (Ken said they were both delicious!) Definitely not a bad choice if you’re looking for something to eat and you’re in the meatpacking district. They even have phone chargers in the bathroom (although I don’t think they have the iPhone5 chargers yet)
In December, my teammates and I went to Brooklyn for an offsite and to celebrate the intern’s last week with us in New York. I’m not the biggest fan of Brooklyn because something bad always happens to me when I’m there (not Brooklyn’s fault at all, it just so happens that bad things happen to me in Brooklyn). The day before our offsite, I was talking to my colleague about how to get to the coffee shop we were meeting at – he said to get off at Atlantic Avenue so I could transfer across the platform instead of going up and down stairs (the biggest subway win in my book). I completely forgot where I should get off because I didn’t think anything of the trip (and I kind of go on auto-pilot during the week since I only take the subway two stops). When I got to the train station, I realized that I transferred across the platform but had no idea where I was going (THE BROOKLYN CURSE STRIKES AGAIN!) I got out of the subway station after asking someone if I was going in the right direction (and her telling me that I had to go back into the city) and it just so happened to be the right station to get off at for the offsite.
Of course I texted/emailed everyone when I got out of the station to let them know I was alive but at that very moment, my phone’s signal refused to work; I tried to make a call because I thought it just took a minute to find a signal since I was underground, but no luck. I just started walking and hoping for the best…luckily, I was going on the generally right direction (although I was walking in new ballet flats and it just so happened that everything in Brooklyn was wet and ruining my new suede soles). I finally met up with my colleagues and made them promise me that we would NEVER ever go to Brooklyn again (they promised, don’t worry). For lunch, we decided to head to Brooklyn Fish Camp, who shares an owner with Mary’s Fish Camp in Manhattan. We ordered some appetizers for the table, including fried oysters with homemade tartar sauce:
And deviled eggs with smoked salmon:
I was trying to be healthy and ended up ordering the grilled whole mackerel fish:
After lunch, we lost our spot at the coffee shop and tried to find another spot to work (but couldn’t find one because apparently all the coffee shops in Brooklyn are taken during the day). On our way home, of course the storm clouds came in and it poured on us when we were running to the subway, then the subway got stuck underground and we were told to go back to Brooklyn (there was definitely no way I was EVER going back to Brooklyn on the subway), and I finally got home an hour and a half later. Luckily, I was still full from lunch….and no, I have not been back to Brooklyn since this incident.
After a three-week hiatus, I’m finally back to the computer and blogging! I realized I had so many photos to upload and didn’t have time to do any of it until this weekend because I’m stuck at home with the worst cold ever (more on that later!) In December, right before we headed to San Diego for the holidays, Ken and I went to Madison Square Garden with our friend, Jon Michael, to watch the Bulls play the Knicks. Hughie and Hana were nice enough to give us their tickets to the game since Ken is such a big Bulls fan. Hughie has pretty amazing season tickets – we arrived at Madison Square Garden around 7pm for the 7:30 game and watched the Knicks and Bulls warm up:
I was never been a big sports fan growing up and only started watching after Ken and I started dating. Basketball is actually pretty entertaining and probably my favorite sport to watch (close second: football. Last place: baseball) I was really interested in the Knicks when Jeremy Lin played for the team and Ken even got me a Lin/Knicks shirt, but right after I got the shirt, Jeremy Lin was benched and then traded! Ha – I guess I was bad luck for Jeremy Lin 
The best part about Madison Square Garden is that they have a ton of different food vendors now – it’s not just hot dogs, it’s Jean Georges organic chicken hot dogs. No more regular regular soft serve, they have 16 Handles Frozen yogurt! During half-time, Ken and I went to find something to eat – we chose Jean Georges’ Simply Chicken:
The hot dog warmers are the same ones they use at 7-11, but I was definitely more excited about these hot dogs:
These chicken hot dogs are made daily by Jean Georges’ restaurant and they are topped with a really delicious homemade coleslaw that is both tangy and sweet:
Ken ordered a chicken sandwich with a housemade relish that was pretty good, but I enjoyed the chicken hot dog more; nice bun to meat ratio, curry-powdered cole slaw with just the right amount of mayonnaise, and filling enough that I didn’t have to get two.
The Knicks ended their at home winning streak that night – possibly because I was there – and haven’t been doing that well ever since!
Happy 2013! How did you ring in the new year? Ken and I were in San Diego with his family for Christmas, then spent New Year’s Eve in New York with our friends. Here are a few of my favorite photos from San Diego (I’ll post something longer later next week!)
We stayed at the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort for the week and they beautifully decorated the lobby with different types of Christmas trees that were available for purchase – here’s my favorite before we went to a huge family dinner on Christmas day:
The resort is quite large and has a golf course, private residences, and lots of amazing homemade vanilla bean yogurt that I ate every morning.
Since we weren’t spending Christmas day at home, Teresa and I decided to spruce up the tree in her suite so Ken’s niece and nephew could have a little Christmas cheer when they opened their presents:
We spent all day making ornaments for the tree! The suite was actually even more pimped out – we bought wrapping paper to wrap our last minute presents and had a lot leftover so we just used it all over the place.
San Diego was really cold (which I wasn’t prepared for) but we had a really fun time with Ken’s family – two of the big excursions that we participated in were the San Diego Zoo and Disneyland. Here’s a photo of me and Ken taking the gondola from the Southern tip of the zoo to the northern:
We went to see the pandas (the whole reason for our zoo visit!) – this is Gao Gao, a panda that has a significantly smaller left ear because he was in a fight before the zoo found him:
How did you spend your holidays? Are you refreshed and ready to tackle 2013? Ken and I are so excited for this year – we have four weddings, bridal showers, bachelorette and bachelor parties, and lots of wedding planning!
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