Last Day in Spain

Playing: Ready to Go-Panic! at the Disco(Love the costumes in this video! Super pretty and fun to watch!)
Reading: Hollister Models Post Racist Photos from South Korea Store Opening, Get Fired by Valerie Isakova

For breakfast on our last day in Spain, my family and I faced another day of not really caring about where we ate, since we were pretty tired of everything by then. We ended up at a cheap chain called Radilla, where I ordered the Aguja de Ternera. According to my brother's pretty basic Spanish, it's filled with veal and I tasted some red bell peppers. It was only ok, but I was pleasantly surprised by how flaky and buttery the crust was. Radilla served tons of sketchy looking sandwiches, filled with creamy fillings, but everyone there seemed to be enjoying them and my family said they were good.

We spent most of our morning walking around the Almudena Cathedral, which was interesting because it's one of the few cathedrals I've visited that was made fairly recently. Its hallways were filled with artifacts and different religious relics, but the actual church part was the nicest. It wasn't anything special or so outrageous that you just had to visit it. Truthfully, my family and I were running out of places to visit, so we ended up just going to sites that weren't highly recommended by tour books just to fill up our time.

Across from the Reina Sofia, there weren't many places to eat at, so we stopped by a convenience store, bought a few drinks, and asked the guy where we should eat. He was from China, so of course he recommended a Chinese place to us. Restaurant Chino was surprisingly good, considering most of my meals in Spain were pretty mediocre. We ordered Dumplings, Beef with Onions, Singapore Fried Noodles with Curry, Eggplant Stuffed Meat, and Chicken with Black Mushrooms and Bamboo, which were all pretty good. The service was friendly and they spoke alright English, alright Spanish, and fluent Chinese.

After lunch, we went to the Reina Sofia and got in for free because it was Saturday. Out of the three art museums that Madrid is famous for, I thought this one was the weakest. It might've been because it really was the weakest or that I was just tired of visiting so many art museums. I did however like the building. I loved the bold color, sleek lines, and use of glass to break up the redness of it all. It was fascinating to look at from all angles and side.

For dinner, we ate at Restaurante Asador, which is on a street right off Plaza Mayor. I had the Centra de Solomillo de cebon con Foie, which basically means steak with foie gras, I think. The food here was rather good, but overpriced, and the service was friendly too. When you're in Spain, I recommend skipping main dishes and just ordering a bunch of appetizers. The appetizers we got there were the best part, even though they accidentally gave us another guest's food and we dug into it, not knowing it wasn't ours. They served us this really beautiful, glass water bottle and I thought they were going to toss it like we do in the USA, so I stole it. The waiter came after me to explain that they actually have to return the water bottle and I couldn't take it. How terribly awkward...I don't steal things; I promise. I just thought they were going to toss it and I saw so much artistic potential in it.

We ended up at Puerta de Sol, which is supposed to be the center of Spain and the place where all roads start. We pretty much ended up here every single night because the night life was interesting and for me, there were cute boys to stare at. I'm not a creeper nor am I desperate. I just like pretending I'm a model scout. "Oh, he has a nice face, but he's too short." "He would be perfect, if his eyes were brown." Yes, I'm very critical, when it comes to my model scouting. Overall, Spain was nice, but it wasn't the most amazing trip I've had. It's more of a trendy spot aimed at college students for partying and drinking. Even though Madrid is supposed to be more historical, I found Barcelona to be more enjoyable. Would I rank this as a must see place? Probably not, but that's not to say I didn't like Spain. I did like Spain, just not as much as some other places I've been to.

PS My favorite band, Jack's Mannequin, is splitting up and I absolutely need to get tickets for their last concert. However, I don't want to give $400 to scalpers because I want the money I spend on the tickets to go to the Dear Jack Foundation, not some scumbag. 

Spain: Day 2 Part 2

Playing: Runaways-The Killers
Reading: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Welcome back to my day two in Barcelona! After we visited mare magnum, we walked back to Las Ramblas hoping to eat at a famous cafe, but it started raining horribly, so we pulled aside to eat at whatever we found. However, I get so little rain in southern California that whenever it does rain, I get this stupid grin on my face that shows everyone I'm thoroughly enjoying the rain. Walking around in a downpour in short shorts was a bad idea. Later that night, I got a bad headache and fever, while I was cheering on Spain in the Spain vs Italy EuroCup game. Sorry Italians, but it felt more appropriate to be cheering on Spain, while I was in Spain!

We ended up at Carta de Vinos-Torres, which is near the end of Las Ramblas, for lunch. We ordered our first taste of tapas with this combo aptly named Tapas 3. It came with fried potatoes with spicy mayo, octopus with spicy topping, grilled lamb, chicken wings, shrimp with garlic butter, and clams with garlic butter. This was one of the best things we ate, while in Spain. Everything was just so tasty.

Since we were afraid it wasn't going to be enough food, we also ordered the Fideuada (Fisherman's Style) and the Hand Made Assorted Pates. The Fideauda was described to us by the waiter as a noodle version of paella, but it tasted like seafood instant noodle to me. It was good, but probably not worth ordering. The pates were pretty average, but my mum found them too strong, so I'd stick to the tapas, if I were you.

After lunch, we headed off to the Cathedral de Barcelona, which was pretty creepy, I'm not going to lie. I personally find medieval religious art to be pretty disturbing and depressing, so I've never been a fan of medieval cathedrals. My dad enjoys visiting cathedrals, so we always end up visiting them and they're considered must-see spots, so it's only me that has this issue. My favorite part was going on the roof of the cathedral to see the city below me, but other than that, I was freaked out for most of my time there.

While walking around the  Barri Gotic, my family stopped off for gelato at La Campana. Since the USA doesn't have a lot of blackberry flavored food, I ordered the mora (Spanish for blackberry). It was very refreshing for the first few bites, but towards the end, I found it way too sweet. I have to admit this particular store was very quaint and for all of you that don't like gelato, it served other desserts.

Afterwards, we went to the Sangria Familia, which was designed by Gaudi. I absolutely loved the Sangira Familia even though it cost a small fortune to get in. It was so beautiful inside and felt surreal. This is how I think churches should feel: happy, welcoming, ethereal, etc. As I've hinted to before, I dislike churches that have the depressing, violent vibe that many medieval things have. The Sangria Familia was just amazing and unlike anything I've ever seen before and I highly recommend it.

At the end of our day, we went back to our hotel and rested until it was time to go out for dinner. It was still raining, so we went to Rias de Vigo, which was very close to our hotel. I ordered the Solomillo de atunn a la Provenzal. The tuna was meaty and well cooked, not too dry for me at all, but I found the tomato sauce to be too tangy and it left my tongue feeling tingly. Is that weird of me to say? Also, the waiters were very funny and they could speak Spanish, English, and French! After dinner, we went back to our hotel to watch the Spain vs Italy EuroCup soccer game. When Spain won, people set off fireworks, opened up windows to cheer, honked horns, and ran around the streets screaming, so I took it as a sign to cheer to. I opened up my window and cheered until my mum told me to be quiet. Well that's the end of my first full day in Spain...

Confirmation

Playing: For Reasons Unknown-The Killers
Reading: Vogue June 2012 (Yay for the Olympics!)

On May 19, I was confirmed in the Catholic faith. After two years of attending late, Confirmation classes on week nights, I finally was confirmed along with so many of my amazing friends. It's truly a great feeling to finally go through this sacrament after so much preparation. Before our actual mass, where we got confirmed, we had to listen to instructions on how to line up, which we understood as, "Please take as many photos now as you want!" So here I am, from left to right, with Clare, Daniela, Krishan, Nissa, me, and Chelcee.

Left to Right: Me, Chelcee, Krishan, and Sara

During the actual lecture on how to behave during mass, Chelcee pulled out her iphone to take more photos.
We had a hard time squeezing all four of us in the photo, so I had to sit on Chelcee's lap and then Sara could finally pop herself into the photo. I'm not really sure what they talked to us about because well, I wasn't really listening, but I didn't mess up during mass, so I'm assuming I followed the instructions.

After mass, I took more photos with everyone and my dad greeted me with a huge bouquet of roses, lilies, and astromeria lilies. Unfortunately, all the incense and the chrism from mass gave me a bad headache, so I had to go back home quickly to wash off the chrism and take some Motrin. The chrism's smell really knows how to stick to you. I was rubbing my forehead so hard to clean it off, I actually cut myself...

Once I was done changing into normal clothes and washing the chrism off my forehead, I went off to Todai with some family friends to celebrate my Confirmation. My dad always tells me not to get the udon at buffets because noodles are cheap and "we need to get our money's worth." I still get the udon though and I like it every time. However, I hope we did get our money's worth because I ate quite a bit of seafood that day!

The desserts are only alright at Todai, but they're so nicely presented! The Japanese always make all their food look beautiful. If you want further proof, check out FuckYeahBentoBox, which is full of amazing bento boxes and bento box ideas! However, I've noticed that sometimes Asian pastries aren't as delicious as their European counterparts. So do you choose beauty or taste? I almost always choose taste over beauty. If you ever go to Todai, I do not recommend the matcha green tea cake with red bean filling. It's really odd tasting and Jaren, who was there with us that night, said, "It looks like Yoda's dandruff." So there you go, Asian desserts are beautiful yet bland in most of my experiences...

A photo I stole from Sophie's blog of me studying for the AP tests with my new, black hair!

By the way, did I mention my hair is "Back in Black" now? I asked my hair stylist to dye my brown hair back to my natural color, but she made it a really fake, inky black like a raven. I like it though. It reminds me of my "punk" days and I like looking hardcore. The inky black emphasizes how pale my skin is, which apparently Asian guys dig (according to my guy friends). However, my friends, Shayan and Sagiv, have been arguing over which hair color they prefer on me. I walked in with black hair and Shayan screamed at me, "No, your hair is black! Dye it back now!" And then Sagiv yelled back, "No, I've been telling her to dye it black now for over a year!"

Have you been Confirmed? Also, what hair color do you like the best?

A Very Hipster Easter

Playing: Daddy's Eyes-The Killers
Reading: tanpopo by camille d'errico
Hello everyone and hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Now I didn't really have a hipster Easter, since I did all of this Friday after school. Anyways, my course of actions isn't even all that hipster or indie. In fact, it was all my friends and I joking about what hipsters we are.

I was left with a very important task to do for my church. Something so mind blowing, I had to give my full attention to it and focus solely on it. What exactly was I left to do that demanded my full, undivided attention? I was left with the important task of drawing and designing an Easter egg for my church's Easter celebrations for the toddlers and young children's event, where instead of pin the tail on the donkey, they did pin the chick on the egg.

With my faithful servants, Clare and Chelcee,  helping me paint my fabulous creation, we messed around more than we painted, scolding each other, when we smudged the colors. We had to mix all of the colors together to get the pastels we wanted, but we ran out of white. We then proceeded to point the finger at each other as to who's fault it was that there was no more white paint. Luckily, we got it done and it looked really festive.

And here's our finished creation! Beautiful isn't it? It's a real Monet, huh? All sarcasm aside, I do like the way it came out and how we were able to incorporate the cross on the egg, since this is a church event after all. I hope none of the little kids, who were going to pin the chick on the egg, noticed that the glitter paint we used started to bead, messing up the lettering at the top.

After I was done helping out my church, my parents took me to Felix Continental Cafe to get Steak au Poivre. Steak au Poivre is a Spanish dish consisting of bacon wrapped steak medallions with crushed peppercorns, green onions, brandy and cream sauce. I enjoyed the bacon wrapped steak, but the sauce tasted of nothing but pepper. Also, the saffron rice wasn't as fluffy as it normally is, but the creamy spinach (?) side dish was really amazing. The nice thing about getting dinner at Felix is that it comes with an order of soup and a small dessert, so I got mine with fish soup and a delicious helping of pineapple bread pudding.

Just before I got back in my car, I noticed the license plate of this car. How dreamy, right? It reminds me of, "It's nine in the afternoon, your eyes are the size of the moon." I love it, when people have cool license plates or bumper stickers. It just adds personality to their car.

 On the drive home, I took some light photos because I'm such a hipster. Jokes, of course. I just like putting my camera on long exposure to get these photos of light streaks. They almost always come out nicely for me and they're really nice to look at. I have no place to store all of my light photos, so I'll probably be storing them on my blog in the form of GIFs. Hope all of you had a wonderful Easter!

What did you do for Easter?

Fast Times with Chelcee

Playing: Godless Girl-The Crookes
Reading: The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Chelcee and I do a lot of stupid stuff together. Last Friday, we hung out with each other for pretty much the whole day. During lunch, she allowed me to draw a top hat wearing, mustached whale on her arm, since top hats on whales with mustaches are very in vogue right now. This sparked the idea that drawing all over Chelcee's arms was acceptable at our lunch table, so she left the table with multiple whales on her arms.

After school, I went over to Chelcee's house to cook with her before we sat down to watch the Adjustment Bureau, which was actually very interesting. I now want to travel strictly by doors. Anyways, you can see me here cutting up pancetta like a pro chef with my now stripey hair. This is what all the cool kids are doing. All of them.

Part of being friends with me or any of my friends is having the ability to parody those "artsy people" online. "Look how deep this photo of the eggs is! So artsy and cool, right?" we'll all chime in, when looking at this photo. But seriously, there's nothing artsy about the eggs we're about to stick in our instant ramen.

Once we were done cooking our chicken instant noodle with green onions and eggs plus our mi goreng with pancetta and green onions, we moved all our food and juice into her room and balanced everything on a mini table. Such fine dining for us, huh? We each got our own bowl of instant noodles, but shared the mi goreng. I have decided that we are the definition of healthy eating. We have our starches, our veggies, our fruits in the form of juice, and our protein. All we need it some dairy and we're good.

Once we were done feasting upon our delicious meal of instant noodles, we snacked on shrimp crackers while watching the movie. We were actually watching the movie as a makeup class for confirmation. Even though at the end, I had to answer question on how this movie compared to Catholic beliefs, I really enjoyed the movie. It sparked some new ideas in my head and I shall try to get my hand on one of the Adjustment Bureau's hats. (Watch the movie and then I'm sure you'll understand!) Now that I think about it, Chelcee and I have a lot of movie nights together and we both love pretending to be artsy together. Then again, isn't that what friends are for?

PS The title is a play on Fast Times at Barrington High, an album by The Academy Is...

Jason Wu Made My Weekend Picture Perfect

Playing: Mr. Brightside-The Killers
Reading: Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Actually, my weekend wasn't perfect. Only half of it was because Saturday was pretty horrible. I spent my day inside doing my homework for English, French, algebra, history, and chemistry. That was about the extent of my Saturday activities, but Sunday redeemed my weekend! Why? Because Jason Wu saved it with his collaboration with Target! He's like my Superman. Haha, I must sound so silly, but seriously, it's Jason Wu.

My mum and I bought two dresses, the black and white one and the peach one. The monotone one belongs to me, while the other is my mum's. I like the really clean cut of these and the collars on them. I think a skinny black belt would be perfect for my dress and it might look cool with my boots...Must check my proportions first!

Part of my plan to wear less t-shirts is to get some blouses into my wardrobe, so I decided these two blouses were the perfect opportunity. Truthfully, I prefer the blush one, but I'll probably wear the navy one more, since I'm not much of a pink person. My friend, Jessy, got the blue blouse too, so we're planning on twinning like good kindergarteners!

Both of these tops are my mum's but how lovely is that blue blouse? I simply adore the sheer top part because it adds some interest to it and lends a sense of maturity to an otherwise youthful print. I can't fit into either one, since both are size smalls, not extra smalls, so I'll have to cinch them or something to make them work for me!

One of the things I wanted the most was this pleated skirt, which actually looks more expensive than it was. I also wanted the white blouse with the black bow, but that was an online exclusive. I was actually quite upset to see that the Target I went to didn't have the trench coats, cat tote, cat scarf, the pleated shorts, or the saddlebags. However I'm glad that they had this purse, which comes with a cross body strap. It's like he had me in mind and said, "A shoulder strap will appeal to Audrey so I shall put one on it."

Afterwards, I grabbed some lunch at my favorite bagel deli to get some lox with cream cheese on a garlic bagel. Although, in this photo, all you can see are tomatoes, huh? I suppose tomatoes are fun to look at then...Lately, I've been obsessing over cream cheese with lox on bagels and I get them anywhere I can. They're so fresh tasting and I love the smokiness of the lox with the creaminess of the cream cheese and the sharpness of the onions.

After lunch, I finished up my homework and went to Chelcee's place to watch Titanic and then we decided that a cruise vacation no longer sounded pleasant. In fact, I discussed my whole plan for how to survive should you ever be on the Titanic and should it sink plus how Jack and Rose should've died earlier, since she went back to save him and went through the ice cold water. I'm telling you, hypothermia kicks in faster! And then we went to church for a Super Bowl Party and then left early, since neither one of us are into football...

Then at the end of the day, I finally cooked my rainbow soba for dinner, which was the perfect way to end a perfect day. I quite like the colors and the texture of these noodles. Also, how can the colors not brighten your mood? It's like having the rainbow for dinner, only this on won't get you yelled at by your mum like Skittles do! Thanks for reading!

How were your Valentine's Days? I spent mine doing homework!

New York Day 3

Playing: Boston-Augustana
Reading: A Modest Proposal by Jonathon Swift

Started off our morning at St. John's Cathedral, which is still being built. Inside they had so many different displays, just trying to raise some money to finish it. It was awfully dark inside and at some places, you couldn't even see the ceiling.

We went to Sylvia's Barbeque, where I got the Ribs and Fried Chicken Combo with Baked Mac and Cheese and Candied Yams. The ribs weren't my favorite because I prefer mine smoky, while these were tangy. I did like the fried chicken and mac and cheese, but it was by far, the candied yams that blew me away. They're probably the best I've ever had. According my parents and brother, the collared greens there were the best they've had.

Afterwards, we went to Central Park, where they were having a Holiday Craft Fair and I fell in love with this one booth. I wanted every single one of their pocket watches, but I was good and only bought one. I received my first pocket watch five years ago, so I was glad to buy another.

While at the Holiday Fair, my brother and I bought a De Throwdown Wafel from Wafels and Dinges. With spekuloos spread and whipped cream, it was one of the best things I ate the whole time I was there. My brother and I weren't going to buy one until we saw that they had beaten Bobbly Flay in Throwdown, so we had to get one. It was absolutely amazing.

And hey everyone, this is the rock from Limitless that Abbie Cornish was running down, when she was running away from the antagonist's helper. I have no idea how she did that in heels because even in my sneakers, I had a hard time going at a fast pace. (Although, I do blame it on my over sized jacket.)

Since these are the only ducks I could find in Central Park, this is the best photo I can give you. The importance of this? Holden Caulfield was wondering where all the ducks go during winter. (High five for nerdy allusion?) I passed this pond, while walking to the zoo, which I'll probably talk about later on.

I really wanted to visit FAO Schwartz because it's an amazing toy store with brands I've never even seen before like these Tonner dolls. All of them had the most elaborate outfits and I wanted them for them for myself. I simply loved how detailed they were.

For dinner, we headed over to PJ Clarke's for a "Handpicked" Jumbo Lump Crab Cake Sandwich. Although delicious, it was rather small especially for the price. Considering it was pricey, it should've been big enough to fill me up. I ended up eating the rest of my mum's dinner to fill my stomach.

Before sitting down for the opera, I walked around the Metropolitan Opera Shop. I love all the props they have and the clothes. My dad used to get me CDs and children books from their website, when I was smaller. I really wanted these binoculars and when asked what I would do with them, I told my parents, "I sit in the back in most of my classes, so these would help me see the board!" My dad liked the idea, but my mum said no. So until we meet again my lovely opera binoculars, please keep me in mind.

My dad had bought us tickets for La Fille du Regiment, which was absolutely hilarious. I used to go the opera once a month, but the production I went to went out of business. I really liked how the Metropolitan Opera's costumes were really complex and well thought out. Also, I'm kind of obsessing over these chandeliers they have hanging up. They have at least a dozen of them throughout the building and I'm wondering if they'd notice one missing. Really want one for my house. What do you think? Can I get away with it? Thanks for reading!

Mission San Juan Capistrano

Playing: I Don't Want a Job-Something Corporate
Reading: What White People Like by Christian Lander
Yesterday I spent the day playing badminton and tennis with Tina, Tiffany, and Vivian, so I didn't get to organize my photos from my trip. So, this is just going to be a quick little post about what I did in between Hawaii and Turkey. I like showcasing California and the USA because I love my country and where I live. Also, California has a lot of Mexican influence because California was part of Mexico before it became an American state in 1850.

The mission consists of some ruins, beautiful gardens, and a church that still holds mass. It's very beautiful and you should grab the audio tour because it's free and you learn so much more with it. The inside of the church is very elaborate and it has a special room for St. Peregrine, the patron saint of cancer. Many people go there to pray for recovery of loved ones or themselves.

Outside there are many native Californian plants and two koi ponds. Many people get married here or take their wedding pictures here. On the day that I went, there were four brides and a wedding party, so they set out tables and a stage.

Right across the street is Pedro's Tacos, which sells delicious Jarritos in a wide range of flavors. I got Tamarind, which is often found in Mediterranean food. Who knew Mexicans like tamarind too?

For $2 each, you can get tasty desserts like churros and flan. I highly recommend the churro, which has a caramel filling. Very tasty and unexpected. The flan was prepackaged flan that you can find at any Mexican supermarket, but for $2, what do you expect? My brother got a burrito and said it was very good, so go try Pedro's! While I was there, I ran into a guy I haven't seen for three years. He didn't remember me...No one seems to remember me, when I say hello to them. Oh well, he wasn't a close friend, so whatever!
Oh, here's some stuff you might like:

• Gucci's First Kid's Collection (Super adorable and great, if you can afford it! If you can't, just check out the pictures! The kids look so cute and well dressed.)
• Momiji teams up with Hello Kitty!