Looking back on 2011

2011 has been a good year. I already wrote about some of the major changes in our life in a previous post so I thought I’d recap 2011 a little differently.

January

I planned to adopt my sister's cat but my mom decided to to adopt him instead. Unfortunately, Shadow passed away from anemia in October. He was a good cat.

February

Hosted our annual Super Bowl party. I used felt to create a table cloth that looked like a football field.

March

I visited London and Edinburgh. I spent time with one of my best friends and even met up with a classmate from Montessori school!

Blog reboot!

Let’s give blogging another try, shall we?

I’ve been blogging since 2001. I keep falling off the bandwagon but as they say, pick yourself up and get right back on!

Since May 2010, there have been some major-ish changes in the life of V and K:

- Moved to a new apartment. Our new apartment is three blocks away from our old apartment. Our apartment complex has a sauna (I’ve used maybe five times), a steam room (haven’t used it, smells funny) and a gym (used twice). It also has an awesome rooftop which we’ve used a lot for hanging out and parties.

I hosted a bridal shower in our "sunroom." It's really the area in front of the elevators leading to the rooftop.

- V started a full-time job. No more house spouse .

- I lost 10 lbs!! I started eating less and got hooked on barre at The Dailey Method. I was using EA Sports Active for a few months but had to quit due to knee pain.

- I started a side business. Head on over to The Shoe Tote and buy a protective bag for your shoes!

I was also able to keep up with my goal of traveling internationally at least once a year. 

Vik’s Chaat Corner

V and I “discovered” a new restaurant this weekend. Vik’s Chaat Corner has been around for years and I’ve known about it for a while but never seemed to get around to it.

But this weekend was THE weekend.

Vik’s offers foods that are typically found by street vendors in India so it was different from all the Indian food I have had in the past. But it was really good! I love street food. I feel like I got to see a whole new side of Indian cuisine. I can’t wait to go back and try the other dishes.

This was called “uttapam.” When I first saw it, I thought it would be pizza like in taste with the tomato and onions. But the “crust” wasn’t naan-like as I expected, it was actually made with a rice batter.

Of course, I had to order samosas. Mmmmmm.

V ordered the lamb roti, that was good too.

I really enjoyed the different sauces that came with the food. I can’t wait to go to India and eat the authentic stuff! Maybe in the next three years I’ll be able to make it there.

Oops, I went nutso

I started planning my NYC trip in detail. And I think I have my itinerary pretty much set. When I said I counted time in meals, I really wasn’t kidding. My itinerary is all about the food.

click for the full image

This is how I’m going to spend my time in NYC. I did ask a couple of locals for recommendations so if they come back with more interesting recommendations, I’ll make changes as needed.

I scheduled a combination of fine dining and cheap eats since I already splurged a lot during my birthday month.

NYC!!

I get to go to NYC for work, wooo! The work thing is only for one day (just one night, actually) but the timing works out so I can fly out early and spend the weekend there. The trip isn’t until mid-May but I’m super excited to make plans for my trip.

NYC to me means one thing: AWESOME FOOD

It is home to my most favorite dessert ever: frozen, whipped goat cheese with lemon custard and raspberry sorbet.

I can’t wait to try new restaurants, visit the Met, munch on street food and maybe watch a show. I’ll have to plan my itinerary carefully. I will have room for about 8 sit-down meals (that’s how fatties count time – by meals, not by days or hours) and 5 more casual meals (breakfast).

This will be my 4th trip to New York and I don’t see myself ever getting tired of the city. If I lived in New York, I think I’d be seriously overweight and broke.