Bride Wars - 1/28/2009

Ruz and I watched Bride Wars last night at Atlas Park, after a dinner of shrimp dumplings, siumai, roast pork w/ egg noodles, and cold almond tofu. For reasons I don't know, I had higher expectations of the film than what I saw. It was... an ok movie. I have to say, mejo low-budget sya, as the reception of both Anne & Kate's wedding looked like it was as small as a living room. In the beginning of the movie, they were talking about The Plaza grandiosity, so akala ko the wedding itself would be smashing.

At least, Atlas Park didn't fail me with my hope na konti lang tao sa theater. There were six of us watching!

2009 NYC Winter Restaurant Week

You've got to love New York for all the events it offers its residents!
Take this last 2 weeks: NYC WINTER RESTAURANT WEEK!

It's my first time to do this whole restaurant week thing. I found out about it on the web while reading some blog, and it most certainly piqued my very interested taste buds.

January 19, 2009
Ruz and I had dinner in Tavern on the Green. We took a cab from the apartment to save cash with the valet and parking fee. Good thing, mas nakamura talaga, lol.
The place is beautiful. It's serene/romantic. The service was splendid. We had mushroom ravioli with peas, sauteed shitake mushrooms, and truffle oil appetizer. It was good, very fresh. For entree, Ruz had Fennel-seared atlantic salmon in red wine sauce and mashed potatoes. Amazingly done. I, on the other hand wasn't so lucky. I had very fatty braised lamb shank with apricot and preserved lemon and pearl couscous. The best part of the entree would be the couscous.
Dessert, Ruz had a sour cream mascarpone cheesecake while I chose creme brulee with demarara sugar crust and almond tuile. Dessert was A++.




January 29, 2009
Attendees: Ms G., Robert, Inah, Nico, Ruz, & moi
Where: Nobu Tribeca
Ahhh.. Good food comes in little packages nowadays.
Reservation was at 6:45pm. We took the subway kasi we were thinking walang parking dun, and besides anim kami sa car, too many.
The host was kind enough to seat us kahit na wala pa si Inah. When we were finally complete, we asked for the restaurant week menu, but they weren't offering it. Good thing Nobu Next-Door was, so we went there, pero we were willing to stay na din naman duon since the a la carte had more choices and the price looked good. But, we still went next door dahil... wala lang. Same menu, WITH restaurant week menu choice.

St. Vincent's 1st Day

Ok, so good things so far this year. My St. Vincent's dateline:
October 25, 2008 - Entrance Exam Date
November 7, 2008 - Interview w/ Ms. Darcy
December 2008 - Received Acceptance Letter
January 15, 2009 - Orientation
January 26, 2009 - First Day of Classes

SO far, I like St Vincent's. I have to admit, I'm thru with stress La Guardia gives the students (I am proud though that my two friends Karla and Norman got in the Transition Program. Kudos!) They say St. Vincent's is easier than the other nursing schools (source: allnurses.com, lol). I'll let you know in two years.

I did have difficulty deciding kung Helene ba or SVCMC. Pros of Helene is that you'll finish in a year. Big con is the stress factor again. Con of SVCMC is the ginORMOUS tuition fee and 2 yrs to finish. But then, i get to start classes this Jan already and the class load is way less.

Oh, another con, I have to challenge 5 classes, costing $640 in total, and walang kasiguraduhang you'll pass kaya puwedeng masayang yung $640. The major one among the 5 is the Fundamentals 101. The test was 100 questions, NCLEX style. Pramis, the test was as tricky as the real thing. BUT, i passed, so whew. BIG whew.

So orientation day was 3 days ago. It was eeriely different from my environment at LAGCC. Puro puti, lol. And ha, compared to students sa LaGuardia na todo paper brown bag ang medyas (think Eva, hehehe), dito aba katabi ko, naka-Fendi, harap ko naka-Juicy Couture jacket, and EVERY GIRL was wearing uggs. Classic uggs, metallic uggs, arte uggs. Hanep.

Im glad may Filipinos dun. I'll guesstimate nasa 6 (4 boys, 2 girls).

Oh, I forgot to note I passed my English CLEP. Medical dosage, I wasn't as lucky. Hehe, i was at a loss with all the conversion. So 3 down, two more to go!