What I've Been Up To, Part IV

Last part, I promise!

Two weekends after I came back from China, I flew to that great concrete jungle - New York City! NYC is by far one of my favorite favorite favorite cities and I've been lucky enough to have been there twice in the past two months. This little birdy was more than happy with such a paradise island.

Somebody was bitten by the NYC bug!

{ Brooklyn Botanical Gardens }

I was there for my sister's graduation from Columbia Business School (what a smarty-pants) and also for Mother's Day! My mom is a lover of all things nature - trees, flowers, gardens. That's her thing. We spent the day at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens-- so beautiful and lush! Of course, I spent half the time avoiding bees, but it was definitely a treat.

Of course I had to make a pit stop at Magnolia Bakery. If gardens are my mom's thing, cupcakes are mine.I could spent twenty thousand hours (and dollars) in there and not get bored (but I will get poor).

One of the items on my NYC Bucket List (I think it's warranted that I have one, given the fact that it seems like I'm almost always there...) is to eat chicken and rice from the Halal Guys food cart. 

Mission accomplished! The chicken and rice was delicious-- especially the white sauce that I doused it with! Definitely a must-visit if you are ever in New York. It's one of those little things that just completely embodies the spirit of New York like nothing else can. We also had dinner at a tiny Thai restaurant that was yummy, but not memorable. Street vendors for the win.

Sunday was the graduation, which was actually decently short. My absolute favorite part of graduations is the processional when Pomp and Circumstance is played. Those notes just give me shivers. You can count on one hand the number of times that song is played for you specifically. It represents all of the hard work, tears, laughter, and accomplishments of various stages of school. Gets me every time. Afterwards, we went to brunch at the Faculty Club in celebration - great views and great foods! I had macarons for the first time and goodness gracious, they are all things good and right in the world!

I am so proud of my big sister and am so lucky to have such a lovely family!

In other news, back in San Francisco, my friends and I attended a Giants game. America's favorite pastime is maximized in fun and greatness only with the associated greasy grub! I had so much fun and am actually enthralled with baseball now. Quite the news flash.

Breakfast at Coupa - Eggs Benedict (my fave!) with a chai- is the perfect precursor for a psychology midterm. No matter the outcome, at least this made me happy :)

The dining hall for my dorm is notoriously bad. But we had Spring Faire last week and all of the dining halls actually made us really, really good. I just don't understand why this kind of food can't be consistent.

For Cinco de Mayo, my friend Lauren and I went to the Pi Phi house for a fiesta and got delicious burritos with a second of nachos. And then even though we were stuffed to the max, we proceeded to go get pomegranate froyo. Just because we could. I pick my best friends well.

{ tszatziki with pita, sokolatina shared with Lauren, saganaki, and pasticio }

My friend Allison turned 20 (halfway to 40!) and for her birthday, we went to Opa!, an extra charming Greek restaurant. We feasted on all types of goodies, and had so much fun there. I love Mediterranean food!

Now that we are all caught up with my extra-exciting (emphasis on the sarcasm) life, we should be good to go!