It’s Good to Be Legal

I swear to God, I’ll f— take this ball and shove it down your f— throat. – Serena Williams

Sorry for my long absence, school is in full swing and I am tired and busy. But before all of the craziness I turned 21! It was a little anti-climactic after being in France and Europe for seven months and being able to have a glass of wine whenever I felt like it, but nonetheless it is nice to finally have all of my American rights. So for my birthday a certain someone took me to the US Open. I’m a big tennis fan so it was a fun day.

We waved to the ESPN commentators like all of those obnoxious people on TV:

We had tickets to the Arthur Ashe Stadium which was absolutely gigantic compared to the stadiums at the French Open. As far as matches we got to see Serena Williams (pre-screaming fest) and Andy Murray and both were good matches.

We thought it would be cool to climb all the way to the top of the stadium and from Queens you get a somewhat hazy view of the City:

After tennis we headed into the City and we paid a visit to La Maison du Chocolat. I was so excited to see and eat macarons again that I didn’t even stop and take a photo. They were delicious. It made me miss Paris.

Well I hope everyone is enjoying their week. I’ll post soon about the bathing suit adventure and the day after my birthday at the beach.

In a New York State of Mind

A city so great they named it twice – New York, NY. -exuberant flight attendant

Well I have fallen behind on blogging because school started and I am busy with classes and newspaper and a job to start soon. But to catch up, I flew to the East Coast a few weeks ago and spent about five days in the City before heading up to Connecticut. So of course a Central Park stroll was in order:

It was quite muggy on the day of the stroll so people were getting into the fountains:

Even the turtles looked a little tired from the heat:

Our stroll took us to the John Lennon Memorial. Lennon was killed not too far from this spot (outside of the park).

So you know how people say that stereotypes come from some truth? Well, rats do really live in the City (here is the photographic proof). The kicker with this is that below these steps where the rats were hanging out there was a restaurant. Guess I know where I won’t be going to dinner, unless they are like Ratatouille.

Recently a new park, The High Line, has opened in the City.  There used to be subway tracks here (and now the grass just grows on top of them). This park is elevated and you get a nice view out to where the Statue of Liberty is. The catch with this park is the all glass hotel that straddles it. People come to watch the people and what they are doing in their rooms because you can actually see clearly inside. A little weird if you ask me.

Hopefully I’ll find some free time next week to post about my birthday at the US Open and the beach. Till then I hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

Until Cooler Days

Just a quick post to show some photos of my last days in Sacramento before going to NYC (and now I am in Connecticut at school). It was Ukraine’s independence day so that means my family and I went and sat through a long festival. But the dancing was quite nice:

Before leaving for the East Coast I tried two recipes from the Barefoot Contessa’s book: phyllo dough pastries stuffed with goat cheese and a lemon mousse. Both turned out pretty well and I would make the pastries again.

I also made my own whipped cream for the mousse. Who knew whipping cream when blended led to whipped cream? Fun discovery.

I’ll be back in Sacramento when it’s much cooler. I guess it will be soup making weather.