Apartment!

Finally! Our apartment is fully furnished and cozy and amazing.

Angy took some pics of a few of my favorite parts:

front door chalkboard & hat/shopping bag/umbrella rack

antique kitchen island for extra storage & counter space + antique test tube rack used for vases

small kitchen table has extra leaves that can be pulled out to fit 6 people + the coolest black leather & wood kitchen chairs ever

the living room focal point: antique buy furs sign with a super creepy/awesome pelt of an unknown animal added on by my mom

light grey down sofa with furry pillows and huge knit blanket

antique black leather chairs with awesome ottoman that, with the addition of this tray, turns into a mini coffee table

this is the table in between the two leather chairs- it's normally a triangle, but it folds out into the amazing flower shape

my insanely cluttered desk area + massive cork board

entrance to my room- the nightstand is an antique hospital table...amazing

this painting is by my dear friend Donald Gallaspy and is one of my favorite things ever

quilted bedspread and shams + vintage velvet embroidered pillow & some furry friends

these are old sweater forms- I'm not sure if they were used to store sweaters so they kept their shape or if they were used as patterns for sweater making...either way, so cool

we don't have any closets so my dad MADE me this beyond incredible clothing rack- complete with shoe rack on the bottom, hooks for bags and scarves, industrial wheels, and an extra bar so i can add a curtain if i want....

vanity table and old children's dress form from Suji I dress up for fun

the Victorian looking high-back chair

art-deco-ish dresser and coat rack

this painting is by Jason Reyes and also, really amazing

alpaca bunnies from Angy's trip to Peru

old velvet head mannequin + old pharmaceutical bottles + cool mini shoes

Apartment's painted white tin ceiling

Obviously, it's hard for me to ever leave here...

New Apartment Housewarming Party

At the beginning of August I moved into a new place, got a new room mate and a new mafia-affiliated landlord and, for the first time in 5 years, I have my own bedroom that has an actual door. It's a dream come true.

Not only do I now have my own bedroom, but I also have a real living room, kitchen, office/desk area, annd bathroom--what luxury!! Coming from jank dorm rooms and a small one bedroom though, I essentially had no furniture whatsoever. So my parents, being the angels that they are, agreed to rent a uhaul truck, fill it with furniture and drive it all the way to NYC in order to protect me from the dangers of furniture shopping on craigslist and trying to put together the million-piece items from ikea. And since they had a huge truck, they didn't want any space to go un-utilized! So my dad fired up the smoker before they left home and my mom filled some coolers with dry ice and they were able to bring some good ol' Texas BBQ to New York. It was amazing.

Angy took a few pics of the gathering of some of my favorite people I've met here in the city as we celebrated the new place and enjoyed some home cooking...

housewarming flowers from Angélique

Joanne, SueYeon, Suji, Yaegi, Brittney, Mom, Sujin, Me, Tae, Dad

I think Sujin was taking too many pictures at this point-- Joanne, SueYeon, Suji, Yaegi,Brittney, Mom, Angélique, Tae, Dad, Me

Me and my 가장 친한 친구 (bffl)

SueYeon's dog, Dodo, was the life of the party

Sujin started getting her Beyonce on...

<3

post bbq napping needed

dessert spread--fruit salad, coconut macaroons, chocolate chip cookies, & brownies w/ chocolate gnache topping

xoxo.

Mile High Chocolate Cake

Last week I decided to host a dinner party last week for two reasons: 1. I wanted to be reunited with my Korean bffl's after my trip to texas/michigan, and 2. I needed some motivation to get my apartment shiny clean. And the best part was~~ Sue offered to cook dinner as long as I made dessert! She made two delicious Korean dishes which I of course don't know the names of... but one was beef (yum) and the other was sweet potato (my new favorite korean dish). Sue and Yaegi love chocolate so I decided on this Mile-High Chocolate Cake. It was indeed very tall, and super delicious. My kitchen was really hot though, and I was a little bit too impatient to let the icing cool completely... hence a cake that looks a litttttle sloppy. Also, because it was so tall and still a little warm, I took the precaution of adding the chopstick support system. Sue added chocolate covered espresso beans and chunks of milk chocolate to disguise the chopsticks(but mostly I think just to add more chocolate...)

I didn't get a good group shot of everyone, but I am in love with this pic of Sue, Hye and I in matching denim!

cake recipe

22nd Birthday Treats + Baking French Macaroons

I spent my actual birthday in the workroom at school-- 17 hours of sewing, pattern making and all around fun. There was a slight break taken however, when Angy and Joanne surprised me with this amazing brownie tower cake topped off with a raspberry cheesecake and served with hazelnut coffee from our home away from home, Brooklyn Bagel.

(If you live in NYC and are in the Chelsea area, go there immediately. I eat like 2 meals a day there and have converted all my friends to serious addicts.) Their brownies are possibly the best i've ever had. (Sorry Mom.)

On Monday night after i'd finished all my classes for the semester, my korean bffls took me to Mad for Chicken in K-town for a lovely b-day celebration feast of fried chicken and amazing sushi. If you haven't had korean fried chicken-- get to it. Soo delicious. Served with carrots, celery and, my favorite, (korean?) radishes. The sauce is half soy garlic and half extra extra spicy. It's hot.

I have officially mastered eating drumsticks and wings entirely with chopsticks. I am not kidding.

Thennn, upon returning to Texas, my mom cooked up a legit feast for the fam + Katie, Amanda, Samantha, Marcus and Carrie. The meal consisted of my favorite salad, steak au poivre, pomme frites, and this amazinggg pumpkin tart.

I didn't get any pictures of the meal because I was too busy snarfing it down. I did however, pause for long enough to document this magazine cover worthy dessert. It was soo amazing. I promise to add the recipe asap.

For Christmas Day, I made some French Macaroons. I had been wanting to make these for a while, because they look so good. They were definitely a little tricky to make, mostly because they are very fragile, but they turned out perfectly and were really, really tasty. I didn't even put any flavoring in, so mine just had the traditional almond flavor and then the dark chocolate filling. So good. Now that I have a food processor of my own, I will be able to make these often.

My dad doing his best French face...

macaroon recipe

As you can see, a lovely and sweet 22nd birthday.