FoHi fo' real

I've been meaning to post pics of an especially inspiring apartment recently (or not so recently) featured on apartment therapy. The most interesting part -- this designer lives in Forest Hills too.

Commonly called a "landing strip" on AT, we also have this in our apartment entryway. I am still looking for a mirror though, and our little shelf needs some tidying up.

When we were home-hunting, we often saw apartments with built-in shelves that are only deep enough to display objects, not actually store stuff. I really like this idea of converting that space into one large display that frames a vase (or some other large object, rather than a bunch of tchotkes). If you look carefully enough, the vase sits on a bed of little stones, which I think is a great detail!

Speaking of conversion, I LOVE this idea of making the front hallway closet into a little office. I think it's enclosed enough to keep you away from distractions, yet just roomy enough to work. I would do well to learn at least a little of her storage/organization solutions (I am quite dissatisfied with our office).

I also like how the galley kitchen is a breakfast bar but also serves as an entertaining bar when viewed from the living room.

Another lesson to learn: combining dining space into the living room.

And what a great way to use the hallway -- a dressing space.

The bedroom reminds me a lot of a hotel room (not sure if that's good or bad), especially with the console table used as a nightstand/writing desk. But as with hotel rooms, I like how the space is compact, combining several functions for the room as a whole (sleeping/lounging/sitting areas), as well as for each piece of furniture.

One of the sitting areas -- Note how the floors are stained darker. Many apartments (including ours) have that blond-colored wood and I've always wanted darker floors.

I want to do this, but I am looking for a long dresser to go with the mirror we have.

Interestingly, one of the complaints/critiques about this apartment that many people pointed out is that it looks too much like a catalog. But is that such a bad thing? I don't want to see a "lived-in" space b/c that often just means it's cluttered.

* * *

While I have my FH pride, I'll say that we tried the somewhat famous Nick's pizza last night. I called in our order for pick-up, which was a good thing, since there were a few groups outside waiting even though it was 9:30 on a weeknight. I was worried that not eating the pizza right away would cause the crust to get soggy, but surprisingly, it didn't. I think the secret to that is slightly charring the bottom, which I'm not crazy about. I do like the thin crust and the plentiful toppings (big hunks of fresh cheese too), all for less than $20 for a large pie (enough to feed at least 3 adults). The fresh basil gave it a nice flavor too. And I think it was even better when I heated it up for lunch today. The prosciutto flavor really sunk in and wasn't too salty. How does this compare to my favorite all-time pizza ever? Nick's is good, but it doesn't beat Totonno's (it's also elevated in my eyes for being in my old 'hood in Brooklyn *sniff*). I *heart* Totonno's, even if their decor is cheesy (think disposable cups even when you eat in), it''s a bit overpriced, and it's crazy far.

City of Pitts

Pittsburgh -- don't go unless you have to (I was there for my bro-out-law's graduation). No offense to Pittsburgh readers, but it's called Pittsburgh for a reason -- it's the pits, an entire burgh of pits. I think it may very well be the worst city I've ever visited, probably on par with Staten Island (another wannabe city). I know I am very NYC-centric, but Pittsburgh is really terrible. We were bored with it after a day, everything was closed by 9pm, and it was desolate even when light out. There was plenty of traffic though to slow us down and to remind us that this is a terrible place to live/visit. One thing I will give it is the nice old buildings (the new ones are nothing much). My bro-out-law's 2 bedroom pre-war apartment, with tall ceilings, three fireplaces, and great moulding, takes up half the floor and would probably be beyond the millions if found in Manhattan (or it would be subdivided into at least 2 separate apartments and still be pretty expensive). It, however, like most everything else in Pittsburgh, is in sad shape and in dire need of some fixing up (the bathroom and kitchen were grimy and would do well with some new cabinets and new flooring).

Since we were in the city for the graduation, I thought we could make it into a nice little trip. But every guide that I consulted didn't offer anything truly interesting: zoo (not a fan of animals locked up in cages for my entertainment), conservatory (seen one plant, seen them all), Andy Warhol Museum (closed on Monday, the day we had free, not that I particularly enjoy his work and can you really beat the MOMA's modern art collection?), the Duquesne Incline (huge disappointment -- see below). So surely I thought there would be some good food to redeem this sorry town.

It's a sign when what you're known for is a sandwich (basically bar food) whose signature is a pile of fries (albeit hand-cut) and vinegar coleslaw thrown on top of the meat of your choice. Granted, the sandwich was not bad (but it's very hard to not have me smile after eating BACON!), I just really didn't need to travel so far for a sandwich that I can make myself (plain white bread!).

Bacon sandwich with Pittsburgh Steelers' stadium in background.

As for the incline, it seemed pretty interesting when I read about it, but when we got there, it was basically just an old outdoor elevator. On our way up, I was so scared because it felt like we were floating in mid-space -- only one end of the car is attached to the wire and with your back to it, you don't see anything but the buildings below. It didn't help that I really needed to use the bathroom (we were trying to get rid of our beverages before we boarded the plane, lest it cause trouble on the airport security line) and the cranky man who sold us the tickets said there'd be bathrooms at the top so I was anticipating quick relief. However, he lied! There was not much at the top besides a few display cases of old paraphernalia, a souvenir shop and a viewing platform. We walked around a bit but it was mostly just residential, with a few bars. The place was vastly empty so there was no way to sneak into the bathroom. In the end, I kept my urges at bay and twenty minutes later, we were back at the bottom of the hill. *yawn* I imagine it would be a more interesting ride at night, with all the city lights, but nothing really spectacular during the day.
Pretty nice-looking structure from the outside (note the old, wooden tracks of the incline, much like the Cyclone in Brooklyn, but far less exciting).

View from the (bathroom-less top) -- click to enlarge.

But the entire weekend was not a waste. I finished reading The Kite Runner (mostly while in the airport), I got to sleep for many hours, and the highlight of it all: Fallingwater. That little sidetrip was so wondrous and awe-inspiring that it deserves a post of its own.

On ironing

An odious household chore (though there are worse ones out there) is ironing. The vast majority of my clothes don't need ironing (especially now that I'm working in a casual environment) but shoo-wee, almost all of Dear's work clothes need ironing. Despite my pleas for him to get wrinkle-free shirts, his closet of wrinkle-full shirts persists. So any way to make the chore go by faster or easier helps.

When looking for an iron to buy, lots of people raved about Rowenta models. One person claimed that it made ironing a pleasure. This I had to see for myself. I chose the Rowenta Focus DZ5080 because it was on sale and the extra-pointy tip seemed to be a useful feature. For days I was actually excited to iron (this is related to my giddiness to start playing with any new toy but the iron is not bad either). We didn't yet have an ironing board (more on that later) so I actually brought my shiny new toy over to the out-laws'.The experience was not as mind-blowing as I thought for several reasons, the main one being that I was living in fear that I would electrocute myself -- the only available outlet at the time (without having to lug the ironing board upstairs) was one of those non-polarized ones that just couldn't hold on to the iron's plug and it hung loosely when standing still and jiggled out of place as I proceeded to iron. (Yikes, see, chores can be hazardous!) So when we finally got the heavy-duty ironing board from Target (I don't know what makes it heavy-duty -- do people need to iron weighty garments?) I was semi-psyched to iron again. Unfortunately that eagerness has died with each ironing task (definitely not a life-altering, nor pleasurable experience -- maybe I just need a maid? :P) though it does make ironing go by a little easier. (Watching TV while ironing helps too :P). My thoughts on the Rowenta Focus, in easy-to-read bullet form:
- The water compartment is pretty sizable (I can iron at least one shirt with one fill) and I like that it closes to prevent spillage.
- I like the handy thin little canister used to fill the water compartment for steam.
- I like the pointy tip (great for getting in between buttons or into corners).
- The stainless steel soleplate has been good so far (no scorch marks).
- I didn't really notice the advantage to having all those extra steam holes on the soleplate but the logic of it works for me (more holes=more steam).
- It is heavy (both a plus and minus). I notice the heaviness less as I use it more often but I think it also helps with getting rid of creases (I have used light irons before and they just suck, plain and simple).
- This no-drip thing really is a fallacy (water and holes -- it's gotta leak sometime), though this iron drips a lot less than other ones that I've used before.
- There are just 3 temperature settings and I never know which one to use for synthetics or blends.
- I'm not sure if there's much difference/use to the three lights that tell you whether the iron is too hot (red), not heated up enough (yellow), or just right (green) but it's cool to have.

Now my other issue -- I need to find a handy place to store both the ironing board and iron. This will require some closet re-arranging (way down on my to-do list).

Mattress purchase: Goldilocks

I once avidly watched the PBS attempt at reality TV where they got a bunch of people to "travel back in time" to re-live the colonial experience. I remember there was a guy who was delegated to a servant position and he worked so hard to make a comfortable bed for his master. I think he stuffed straw and goose feathers into a large white sack and out came a mattress. When the master and his family had had enough of the "New World" they packed up and left. Before a new leader would arrive, the servant was able to use his previous master's bed, which was a huge improvement over sleeping on the floor, even if it was a little moldy, and he was so grateful.

Alas, if we could only go back to those simpler times (at least in our head). Now if you want a new mattress, you must decide amongst a billion and one different things. There are pillowtops, wrapped coils, reinforced sides, foam sides, solid foam mattresses, height and size to consider. And within each, there are thirteen other decisions to make -- soft pillowtop or firm? Memory foam? Medium firm, firm, or lumbar support? Locked grid? Number of coils? Silk, wool, polyester, or combination fabric? Box spring or not? You have to compare amongst brands Sealy, Simmons, Posturepedic. And don't forget price. For queen size mattresses, we've come across anything from $300 to $1700. To make matters more difficult, every retailer has different models so you can never be sure you're comparing the same thing. Even Bloomingdales and Macy's have different models, even though they're owned by the same parent company. A saleswoman said that if you comparison-shop for mattresses that are about the same in price (about $50-100 difference), with similar coil counts, you can guess that maybe the two mattresses are the same thing. The only way you can really be sure is if you try each one out, in all the positions that you usually sleep (back, side, stomach), to find the right one for you.

The other night we went to Macy's and bounced around from one mattress to the other. Yep, we're finally looking into getting a new bed, something my mother urged me to do before we got married so that we could start 'afresh,' as part of that impractical Chinese tradition.

We passed up a sale at Macy's because it was our first experience and we thought we needed to check out more than what's available at one store. I was also looking for closeouts that supposedly are marked down significantly for new stock, where they change little things like fabric.

Our next stop, many weeks later, was Sears, which advertised mattresses for $300. The place was terrible and I didn't even want to really shop there -- there were kids lounging and bouncing around on a few beds at a time, some mattresses were gated off, there were footprints on some mattresses, and absolutely no one approached us to help.

The next day, we went to Sleepy's. I wanted to check out what these so-called "mattress professionals" had to offer. Unlike at Sears, we got a lot of attention from the lone salesman, who asked us a series of questions like, what kind of bed do you like, when was the last time you bought a mattress, what size you want. Since we weren't sure what we liked, he had us try a firm and a medium firm. He made us take off our coats and lay fully on the mattress. I immediately disliked the firm and liked the medium firm a lot. Dear felt the opposite, but he also thinks he can sleep standing up. After seeing our preferences, the salesperson made us try a few more, amongst different brands, all without pillowtop so that we could get a real feel for what we liked. We even tried the Tempurpedic foam mattress, which was like a better version of the memory foam pad I once had. Supposedly lots of arthritic people like the Tempurpedic because there is no pressure on any part of your body. In the end, we settled on this insanely expensive medium firm mattress (the first one that I tried). However, we really didn't want to spend that much money on one thing, and I really didn't have a good feeling about the salesman. Even though he really helped us narrow down our choices (it is so overwhelming otherwise, where every mattress begins to feel exactly as the previous one did), I thought he was a bit sleazy. He had a typical sales pitch -- you missed the biggest sale of the year, but if you put down a deposit today, you can get that sale price, which is essentially a free boxspring and free delivery. He also kept telling us whatever we wanted to hear -- when we were trying the bed with reinforced steel sides, he said that it's the best one out there, especially when compared to the one with the foam sides, which could sag. But when we really liked the foam-sided one, he said having foam vs. the steel wired one was about the same. All that could have been fine and dandy, but when I asked him about closeout mattresses, he lied and said that they don't carry closeouts because they just ship it back to the manufacturer. I suspect that the mattresses in the back are the closeouts, which is why he kept us in the front. The guy was also full of lies -- he said he was the manager and so he was able to authorize the special price but he supposedly rotates among 15 stores so he may not be there the following day. Of course, he was there the next night when Dear went to cancel the order and get our deposit back. It was kinda sad to see him in that dead-end job though, trying to sell stuff that people only buy once every 10 years or so.

Back at Macy's, it was an entirely different experience, about halfway between the Sleepy's and Sears. The salesperson didn't really pay much attention to us and mostly let us experience the mattresses for ourselves and relied on us to ask him the questions. Most of the beds there have pillowtops, which makes it very difficult to compare with the one we had picked out at Sleepy's, but we settled on one that we liked last time. This time it was also on closeout, plus it was "Friends and Family" coupon day and we could save even more with the opening of a charge card, which I did. The mattress came out to be quite inexpensive and we could cut the price even more if we decide against the frame ($100) or the boxspring. We also made the cut-off to qualify for free delivery -- could it get any better?

All in all, I think there are great deals to be had at Macy's. I would stay away from Sears entirely, and I think going to Sleepy's helps you to narrow down what you like. You just have to be careful of the pushy salesperson. We also checked out the mattresses available through Costco, but we decided that it's too difficult to choose based on a description -- we needed to feel it in person.

Some pointers when shopping for a mattress:

• Test each one out. Be sure to wear comfortable clothes (take off your coat, relax) and lay in the position that you usually sleep in (on your side, back, stomach, etc.). Try to lay on each one for a while so that you get a good feel. If you have trouble remembering what a previous one felt like, go try it again.
• Compare, compare, compare! What I liked about the Sleepy's experience was that the salesperson first made us choose which one we liked among two types. Then he asked us to pick a favorite among a few, and then compare the favorite to other ones so that it is almost like having a control in a science experiment.
• Ask about closeouts, which should be plentiful especially at the end of the year. If the person steers you away from these discounted mattresses, you know he's not the most honest person out there.
• Once you've found a mattress that you like, if you feel you could find it cheaper, check out other places. Take note of the characteristics that you liked, the price, and any other specifics that you can so that you have the fairest comparison amongst various stores.
  
• In the end, despite all the hype about any one particular characteristic (you may not care for one that has more coils than another), I think everything depends on whichever one you feel most comfortable with.

You spend a third of your life sleeping, and a mattress lasts about ten years, so it pays to put quite a bit of thought into what could be a big investment.

Once we've had the mattress for a while, I will have to see whether the salespeople are correct, and we do indeed no longer have to flip the mattress every few months.

Go bare!

Ever since I started using BareMinerals makeup, I can't help but rave about how great it is! It meets all the requirements I've ever wanted/needed in makeup: it's easy to apply (takes 5 minutes a day); comfortable (the minerals don't make my skin feel extra oily or like there's a layer of stuff sitting on my face -- I sometimes even forget that I'm wearing it); and it evens out my complexion, even concealing red spots and blemishes.

I tried out the Starter Kit, which includes the 2 foundations in Medium and Medium Beige, the Skin Rev-er Upper, Warmth All-Over Face Color, Mineral Veil, and 3 brushes. I use the Kabuki brush to apply the foundation for heavier coverage, then the concealer brush for those red spots (i.e. pimples and scars), then the All-Over brush to apply the Mineral Veil, which is like a finishing powder. After some use, I came to see that the Warmth thing does nothing for me (actually it doesn't look right on me) so I can cut out that step. I'm a bit torn, though, on which foundation is right for me (I may even need to combine the Medium with a Light b/c I think I'm in between).

But overall, I love this product. If you don't like the hassle of putting on makeup and you don't like the feeling of wearing makeup, you gotta try BareMinerals!

Holiday campaign of note

'Tis the season for much commerce and all the campaigns that go with them. I thought I'd share one that really impressed one. I don't think it's a new one (a few years running) but it's so well thought out who would blame them for bringing it back?

American Express' "My Wishlist" campaign at first glance appears to be a just selling a bunch of cool stuff for a hugely discounted price (most notably a luxury car for $5000). But it is actually a multi-tiered campaign to not only sell stuff but also has the benefit of getting people to sign up for the credit card (only Amex members can buy the products). The highly covetable incentives (or is it merchandise?) are offered for just a limited time, three times a day for 2 weeks or so. There is a different item for each of the days during the time period. If you fail to be one of the three "winners" for the top-tier items at each of the designated time slots, you can always buy "featured products" at anytime as gifts for yourself or your friends and family.

The breakdown, on the Amex site

To add to this clever campaign, is the wonderful Flash presentation. For example, when browsing through the featured products that you can buy at any time, a mouseover produces a virtual flip up to reveal what the discount is for that particular vendor.
There is also a handy little feature to remind yourself of when the "prize(s)" that you want will be open for purchase. To extend the marketing, there is of course, the usual email-a-friend and also mobile phone reminders.
The only weak spot, which may or may not be Amex's fault, is the unclear images for some of the featured product vendors. Some company logos are so small and/or blurry that it is almost indecipherable.

Falafel and French food

Given my carnivorean tastes and dislike for beans, I just had my first falafel sandwich today. I had heard good things about the balls of ground up chickpeas at a place close to work on Broadway (think it's called Broadway Cafe) so I went there. The guy behind the counter constructed the sandwich by first cutting an end off of a pita to open it. Then he threw in 3 falafel balls (they look like browned meat balls) and put it through the commercial toaster oven. When the sandwich came out, he drizzled some loose tan-colored sauce (tahini) over it, then piled on a chunky salad of cucumbers, green bell peppers, and tomatoes and he finished it off with more of the tahini on top. Somewhere along the line he added hommus too.

There was a lot of salad to get through at the top (I usually dislike raw vegetables), but the tahini and the crisp pita bread made it easy. Then I got to the falafel. With all the spices and density of the packed ground chickpeas, it was quite enjoyable. The tahini (though a bit bitter on its own) made everything a bit creamy, kinda like adding mayo to sandwiches. Towards the bottom of the sandwich, I think I got the full experience of what everything should taste like: each bite had some pita, falafel, salad, and tahini, where the salad cooled down the spices in the falafel, and the wet tahini held everything together yet juxtaposed the crispiness of the pita well. All in all, I'd have this again and IF I was forced to be a vegetarian, this would make it on my menu (next to the vegetarian duck). Speaking of which, I've not had meat all day!

But chew on this, my other food story! Last Wednesday, since we were let out early from work for Thanksgiving, I had a long leisurely lunch on the LES at Lucien. It is a charming little French bistro on 1st & 1st, complete with French waiters and a table of patrons taking a very loooooong lunch (actually it seemed like they were just on the aperitif part of the meal b/c I didn't see them have anything but wine). They also decorated the place "very French" -- the waitress explained that they like to decorate with eggs when we inquired about the odd (stationary) ferris wheel-like rack on the counter that held over a dozen eggs on display, like a bunch of egg cups combined. But I digress -- the food was worth writing home (or to the public at large) about.

I ordered a bouillabaise, my standby, since I just love seafood. If only I had brought my camera, since the presentation was so nice. Besides the usual shrimp, clams, mussels, and white fish (probably cod) arrayed around the plate, there was a half lobster in the middle of the dish. As the waiter brought it out, all we could see were the antenna and part of the head, little did we know there'd be a body attached! All the seafood was well-cooked (nothing overdone) and to dip their fresh, crusty bread in the soup was quite tasty. It was a bit of a bother to have to disassemble a lobster sitting in reddish liquid when you're wearing a white dress shirt, but they made it easier by cracking the claw in all the strategic places (but still keeping everything intact for presentation purposes) and also providing a lobster fork and a bowl to discard all the other shells. I think the bouillabaise could have used some more flavor from the sea (besides salt) -- it definitely wasn't very complex and full-bodied to me. But thank goodness for the dessert, the real piece de resistance (isn't it always?).

Before I get to the end of the meal, though, I'll add that my companion had the duck, which was also presented beautifully -- it had height and sat on a bed of wine infused beets and some spinach. I didn't taste it though, so I hardly remember anything else about it except that my companion really liked it too. And while we were enjoying our respective dishes and conversing, the owner/manager came over to us (he was sitting on the table with the loungers) and asked how we liked our meal. I thought he was just an over-friendly Frenchman, or perhaps jovial from the wine, but then he asked if he could buy us a glass of wine. We turned him down (being the polite Asians that we are) and proceeded to eat. Later on, someone else from the table approached us and asked if we'd like a drink -- he'd pour it right from their table. But we just couldn't but instead, tried to get dessert out of him, which he just laughed about. Oh well, we tried.

But good thing that didn't deter us from ordering dessert. We got the apple tarte tatin with cinnamon ice cream. I'm not one for cooked apples, so I wasn't expecting much. I'm also not a huge fan of cinnamon but the melting ice cream next to the hot apples infused just the right amount of spice, while adding a smooth creaminess from the ice cream, much like a good dollop of whipped cream would have provided. The apples were sliced very thinly so that it wasn't mushy at all; the layers of it added a bit of crunch and fresh apple-ness but were also cooked to just melt in the mouth after a few bites. The absolute best part of it all was the thin, caramelized sugar coating on top, with the same crunch and crackling of the sugar between your teeth as with a creme brulee top (also on their menu). Ooooh, was it good!

LUCIEN: B