New York | Anny Chih

C’était un jeudi

Posted by Anny Chih on April 18, 2012 at 8:26 pm.

Ang is constantly amazed at how lucky I am, and for good reason. I always happen to meet the best people and my life’s events often sound like they’re taken straight out of a movie. Sometimes I get worried because I can’t really believe that any of it is real and I keep expecting something horrible to happen because there’s no way anyone could have such consistently good luck!

Well, get ready to turn one more shade of green because I have another serendipitous story for you! It’s not quite as crazy as my luckiest story in the world (aka 2 Degrees in Brisbane), but it was just what I needed right now.

We wore masks for Div’s Going Away Party. Left to right: me, Div, Sarah, and Bee who was visiting for the weekend

As you probably could have expected from my past posts and updates, Div’s departure hit me hard. I met him with a group of friends on my second night out in New York and have since spent about five or six days every week with different variations of the same extended group of people — most of which included him. Knowing that my closest friend here would be leaving and that I probably wouldn’t see him for a year while everyone else would be going back to Europe or Australia later this summer was heartbreaking.

Div left for Amsterdam on Thursday and is now in Paris. Eva is meeting him in Paris before she comes back from Germany later this month and Sarah will see him later this summer when she returns to Lyon. Listening to everyone make plans to see one another abroad so soon was starting to make me feel tethered to a city that I knew wouldn’t be the same without the people I’d grown to associate with it. That Thursday morning I was crying so much on the subway that a woman actually walked from the opposite end of the car to give me a paper towel. That’s right, not a tissue, a PAPER TOWEL! LOL I probably looked ridiculous.

Wine and cheese sandwich with Div at Think Coffee

Sharing wine and a cheese sandwich at Think Coffee — it’s like I was being prepped for Paris all along! This was taken the same day I met Ryan Gosling (sorry, no picture of that)

Well, that same awful day, I got some really great news. I had received an invitation for a press trip the day before, and I didn’t think that I would be able to go because I’d only been working at the company since February and it’s technically unfeasible to request time off so soon. Well, I already knew that my boss and coworkers are awesome, but this was just additional confirmation to a well-known fact. After hearing about the opportunity, my boss and HR approved of my time off and I was able to RSVP in the affirmative that day for a week long trip to Amsterdam and Paris in June! Yes, of all the cities in the entire world, I will be going on a press trip to AMSTERDAM and PARIS! What are the chances, right?

This will be my first visit to Western Europe, and I couldn’t be more excited! I feel especially lucky and privileged because I am the only blogger that has been invited (the other guests include six journalists). In preparation, I’ve invested in some new equipment (details in my next post) and will be spending the next month trying to catch up on all the posts I’ve been meaning to write before I go.

Stay tuned!

PS More greenery: I met Ryan Gosling! It was April Fools day and I was meeting Div at Panya in the East Village, as we often did on weekends. We both noticed a guy who looked like Ryan Gosling but neither of us thought it was him. Div thought he was too tall to be Ryan, and I just never thought I’d meet a celebrity at Panya. Since it was April Fools, I decided I wanted to take a picture with the guy and send it to Bee as a joke to say “haha Look, I met Ryan Gosling!”

I went up to the guy who was waiting for his order at the back of the bakery and said “Hi, I’m sure you get this a lot but you look a lot like Ryan Gosling. Do you mind if I take a photo with you?” He turned around to face me and quietly tilted his head as he said “I’d rather not.” I thought for a split second that maybe the guy just didn’t like taking pictures with strangers (understandable), but then I thought ‘wait, he *really* looks like Ryan Gosling’ and said “Wait, you’re not *actually* Ryan Gosling are you?” Hahaha

Ryan gave a little nod and asked what my name was. I introduced myself and we shook hands. I asked if he came to Panya often, to which he replied “what?” — so no, I guess he doesn’t. I then said something stupid about how the cooked dishes weren’t as good as the buns at Panya and we exchanged a few lines about being Canadian before I left to go microwave my bun with Div.

New York

Welcome to my new life! I hope you love it as much as I do.

Posted by Anny Chih on March 25, 2012 at 12:46 pm.

Valentine's Party at Eva's with my girlfriends in New York

Best Valentine’s ever at Eva’s

Things are going to change in two weeks and it’s a scary thought. Div will be leaving for India and the last weekend that I’ll be able to spend with him is also the weekend that Bee and Lisa are coming to visit. This will be the first time my friends from two different lives will meet (Bee didn’t get to meet Simon from Australia when all of us happened to be in Montreal in 2010) and I’m both excited and a smidge nervous about it.

Since the girls are coming to visit soon, I’ve been looking into cheap travel deals and compiling a list of places I want to take them to. Most of the places I plan on taking them to are hangouts that I frequent on a regular basis with my friends here. In the mix are also some restaurants that we found through Dinner Club NYC (which I still need to write about), cool underground bars, and of course the museums and parks in the area.

After work wine at Eataly

Some of the places we’ll go:

Eataly for a glass of prosecco
La Colombe for a good cappuccino
Beauty Bar for the dancing
A quick visit to a couple of bars like Blind Barber and Please Don’t Tell just to see the entrances
Decibel for plum wine
(if we have time) Brighton Beach for a Russian picnic on the boardwalk
Dylan’s Candy Shop
The Met
Caravan of Dreams so Lisa can try really good gluten-free food
Tillman’s for the music
Spot Dessert for delicious cheesecake that’s so good Sophie called it “sex on a plate”
Kate’s Joint for disco fries
5th Avenue rooftop bar and lounge for the views

I’m not sure how we’re going to fit everything into one weekend but I’ll try my best to do it. I’m planning on giving them the real New York experience which includes a lot of walking (be prepared to break a few heels — I’ve already gone through three in two months), and no sleep.

Here’s a small selection of some of my favourite photos from the past month and a half:

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Dinner Club, New York

Introducing Dinner Club NYC

Posted by Anny Chih on February 26, 2012 at 8:37 pm.

For the first time since we first created Dinner Club in October 2010, I couldn’t join Phil, Kenny, Ann, Ang and Morten for a Sunday night meal in Vancouver. Of course this makes me sad. This month they went to ChongQing Szechuan in Burnaby and Kenny took on the role of our group’s official blogger; you can read the full review HERE.

Dinner Club NYC

There are a lot of things I miss about home, but I’m lucky that I have a great gang of friends in New York that are always up for a good meal and conversation in the city. When I proposed the idea of starting our own Dinner Club — NYC branch, the whole Sunday brunch group was in! Div chose our first restaurant, Malatesta Trattoria in the West Village, and the following foodies attended: Sarah, Sophie, Elena, Doug, Stefan, Terri, Zoe, Tun, Div, and yours truly.

Since our group is rather large and very social, we had to make two rules right off the bat:

No phones on the table.
Switch seats every 30 minutes.

With a full table, we were able to order just about everything on the menu. For starters, we ordered crostini miisti (prosciutto and mozzarella tomato gorgonzola and mushrooms), piadina con proscuitto, and cozze (sauteed mussels with white wine and chopped tomatoes) to share. We also began the night with a bottle of Prosecco (which turned into two) and a bottle of red. For mains, we had multiple orders of Tagliatelle al ragu, ravioli al formaggio, gnocchi di patate, spinach gnocchi, fusilli con calamari, and a couple of other pasta dishes that I can’t find on the menu.

Cozze

The crostini miisti and bruschetta were good, but the cozze was amazing! I’m so glad the mussels were cooked in such a delicious white wine sauce because it was Stefan’s first time trying mussels. Elena and I continued sopping up the sauce with bread long after the mussels were gone.

Soon after we ordered our mains, we switched up the seating arrangements which must’ve been a little annoying for our servers. We were passing so many dishes and cups throughout the night that by the end there were a few orphaned glasses floating around. Since we were having multiple conversations at once and Div likes to collect random things for his walls we also started passing around a piece of paper with the best quotes of the night. The first quote came from Sarah who said “I had a vegan for lunch. I’m starving!”

Sarah with the boys (left to right): Stefan, Doug, Div and Tun

Sarah with the boys after the first seating switch (left to right): Stefan, Doug, Div and Tun

We all took bites from each others’ plates (Phil, you would’ve hated it! LOL), so we got to try a lot. The gnocchi melts in your mouth and the ragu was classic, but my favourite main was Tun’s calamari pasta because the flavour of the calamari could be tasted in the pasta even without taking a bite of the seafood. I had ordered the ravioli al formaggio, but wasn’t as impressed with this dish because of the cheese in the sauce; it tasted artificial. Div ordered the same and thought the dish would’ve been better if the consistency of the sauce was less dense.

When Terri tried Sarah’s spinach gnocchi she thought it was overly salty, and I thought the same thing about the bread. It wasn’t a good dipping bread because the salt would overpower the flavour of the sauce.

Once we polished off the mains and I managed to spill Prosecco on Sarah and Doug (Sorry!), eight of us ordered a chocolate mousse and tiramisu to share while Terri and Elena were adamant that they have their own desserts. Sophie was in love with the tiramisu and I fawned over the mousse. It was the perfect ending to the first Dinner Club — NYC.

Malatesta Trattoria: 9.5 out of 10

Score for Malatesta Trattoria: 9.5 out of 10

The Good: Order the cozze and make sure you save room for dessert!

The Bad: The bread could use less salt.

The Ugly: My Prosecco spillage and the table at the end of the night, littered with plates, glasses, cutlery and doodles.

Sidenote: I think because this was the first Dinner Club in NYC and the company was amazing (as always), people tended to rate the restaurant a little higher than normal. Oh, and there are 11 hands in the photo because Elena insisted that Italians get to vote twice at an Italian restaurant.

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New York, Travel

A New York calendar

Posted by Anny Chih on February 13, 2012 at 11:24 pm.

Russian Vodka Night with Tun, Sophie, Sarah and Div

Russian Vodka Night! Left to right: Tun, Sophie, Sarah, Div and me

It’s never the brightest move to pause a blog for two weeks while exploring life in a new city because so much can happen in such a short amount of time. And indeed, so much has happened in such a short amount of time!

I really should be sleeping right now because I have to get up for work in three and a half hours, but that in itself is something that deserves a blog post of its own. Since I’ve been surviving on an average of five or six hours of sleep every night in New York and I really need to get as much sleep as I can on weekdays, I’m going to have to give you a really quick rundown of what I’ve been up to.

First, I have a job. What? Yep. I have a job. On Day 10 in New York I received a phone call with a full-time job offer at the end of it as a Sales Coordinator for a large company near Times Square that sells media advertisements. I started last Monday.

Trying to move the big black box in the village with Terri

And second, I have awesome New York friends. I don’t know how I got so lucky! My social calendar has never been quite as full as it’s been here in this metropolitan hub, and the coolest part is that almost everyone is from somewhere else. Under the long list of countries covered (and this is just for the people that I’ve hung out with three or more times), we’ve got India, Bangladesh, Burma, France, Germany, Ireland, Guatemala, Ukraine, Italy, and Australia. Most of the time, we meet for dinners, all-day brunches or drinks. Other times, we drive up to Connecticut to get beat up by a tiny hill while snowtubing and take home black and blue souvenirs that seem to last forever, or have a super late Russian vodka night in Brighton Beach. I could write entire books about the fascinating lives every one of these friends has lived, but I would much rather go out with them and listen to more of their stories.

Instead of backtracking and publishing entire posts about specific events, I’m going to pull out a lazy calendar and list whatever I can recall off the top of my head and you can pretend you’re snooping through my agenda. By the way, I’m using a paper agenda again because my Vancouver mobile committed suicide last week.

Schmexy Pat at Dylan’s Candy Bar

Monday (01/30) I was missing my favourite Aussie Sarah, so being the crazy awesome digital whiz kid and international networking genius that she is, she wrote a blog post for me and put me in touch with Pat from Brissie. We met up at Dylan’s Candy Bar for ice cream and chatted about New York, Australia, other parts of the states and other random stuff. It’s a nifty candy store with a bar on the top level that has cute cupcake booths!

Tuesday (01/31) Div and I met for coffee at La Colombe and conversation at Housing Works Bookstore. Housing Works is a not-for-profit mainly volunteer-driven used bookstore that provides funding for homelessness and AIDS programs in New York. I would definitely recommend a visit! When I got back to Brooklyn I found George sitting on the couch so we went out for late night deli sandwiches on the boardwalk.

Sidenote: I know I’m missing explanations of how I met everyone, but it would take me forever and a half to get through everything so I’m just listing some places and events of note for reference.

Wednesday (02/01) The day started with more Russian cuisine (blintzes) which I’ve been eating a lot of, and I spent the day being a tourist. I watched Phantom of the Opera which I’ve been wanting to see since I was a kid, walked around Chinatown, took a ferry to Staten Island and felt a lot better after talking with a stranger from Oklahoma about the idea of moving to New York.

Exploring the streets

Thursday (02/02) I accepted the job offer and spent the day thinking about what this meant. Since it was Thursday (the day my weekly column is due), I also did a lot of writing.

Friday (02/03) The day was spent running around trying to get some paperwork approved, and opening a US bank account. I went out for cake and dinner (in that order) afterwards with two of my new coworkers, and drinks with Terri and Erin at a couple of bars in the East Village. We had gone to Greenwich Village Bistro for dinner and they had a live jazz band playing which was a nice touch.

Saturday (02/04) I sent out my laundry for the first time and had to wait for a Fedex package to arrive in the morning (THANK YOU ANG!!). In the afternoon I almost got hit by a car that ran through the store I was in. And that night, Jetson and I went to Nuela, Tillman’s, and another lounge in the Chelsea area. I loved the food at Nuela and the atmosphere and music at Tillman’s was perfect! The company was pretty good too.

Sunday (02/05) Sunday brunch at Div’s is always awesome. Sarah, Sophie, Tun, Elena, Deepa, and Andrew were all there. And yes, I’m using names now because it’s going to get too confusing if I keep referring to people as generic “friends”. I left before the Superbowl because I had work the next morning.

So attractive right? Sophie me and Sarah at dinner

Monday (02/06) First day of work! Woot woot! Again, I feel super lucky that everyone I work with is amazing! I met up with Div, Sarah and Sophie for dinner at an Italian cafeteria-style place.

Tuesday (02/07) I met up with Jetson for a quick bite and wandered around the village for a bit while chatting with Terri on the phone that night.

Wednesday (02/08) I went straight back after work and spent the evening talking with Borys and Mat (my usual evening activity). Borys has been my roommate since I arrived so we’ve spent a lot of time having philosophical debates just about every other night before bed. He left this weekend though, so I’m missing a piece of my New York puzzle.

Thursday (02/09) Thursdays are writing days and after work I took a long walk around the neighbourhood with a gyro.

Snowtubing in Woodbury CT with Zoe and friends

Friday (02/10) I met with some interesting guys (and gal) who work with digital media, and then met up with Div, Terri, Sophie, Sarah, Andrew, Tun, and Clare for wine at Eataly, falafel at Maoz (yummilicious!), and then set off for an adventure in Brighton Beach! We went to a place called Primorski and had the rudest server ever, but it was still a fun time and we came up with a great drinking game: a topic is chosen and everyone at the table tells a personal story about it; the person that gets the most votes for best story chooses who drinks, and the person with the lamest story also drinks. We polished off a bottle of vodka just in time for closing.

Saturday (02/11) The day seemed wasted with errands, but I got a call from Ang and Morten soon after she found her engagement ring (Morten just bought it)!! I was so happy that I was practically screaming in the store. <3 That night I met up with Terri and Zoe and we drove up to Connecticut to meet Sari, Kent, Deb and Erin for snowtubing in Woodbury. I fell out of the tube more than once, hit my head, and was dragged at one point when we made a caterpillar run, but it was so worth it! We tried all the different tubes and ended the night with dinner in Norfolk where Terri and I pretty much made the restaurant area a personal karaoke / dance bar.

With my philosophical buddy Borys

Sunday (02/12) Brunch at Div’s with a special birthday guest from Holland! Tun brought a cake for Priya, and the usual brunch festivities commenced with the aid of a ghetto blaster. Eva, Sarah, Sophie, Doug, Clare and Nicole were all there too.

Monday (02/13) After work, Doug and I tried to win tickets to The Book of Mormon but discovered that Broadway shows don’t usually play on Mondays. Organizational fail. We skipped plan B (skating in Bryant Park) and went straight for Thai food.

And now you’re finally sort of caught up! As you can see, I haven’t been much of a tourist in New York. I think this is a good thing. There are a few places that I need to check off sometime this year though (ex. MOMA, a bunch of restaurants, etc).

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