ok technically this is the first week of
2014...since the fiscal retail year ended this past weekend and since chinese
new year is the start of the real new year, now that i'm chinese and all. so i'm not late on this 2013 year in
review thing...just saying.
first thing’s first, let’s address the elephant in
the room – the lack of activity on the blog. at least i’m consistent. a lot
went down in 2013, leaving me little time to be blogging (or napping). both are
necessary for a good post. to avoid losing any more friends, i’ll only share my top
10 moments of the year. these are not your typical "i explored the world" top 10, these are the unknown pleasures of my life last year. i'm guessing if you read this blog, you
probably see my instagram or facebook posts, so let's not be redundant with
things. anyways this is already so unfair to you guys. blogs are just an
awesome way to feel immensely over-satiated with your own life and hope others
envy you. let’s see if this post can serve this purpose (jk...kind of).
10. the toys that come with my jet lag mcdonalds
happy meal delivery.
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9. soufflé from pistacchio. actually the best part
about pistacchio is that hao helped open it. makes me very proud!
8. ippudo moves to every mall in shanghai. no longer do I have to convince
myself that i have a reason to go to pudong. i can now take a 2 minute subway ride
and eat ippudo at least once a week. the ramen scene is surprisingly underdeveloped
here in shanghai so ippudo is the spot if you’re craving a huge, fatty, satisfying
bowl of spicy slurpy goodness.
7. hao's increasing acceptance of selfies. i
LOVE selfies. and any picture that includes me for that matter. hao's getting
used to it.
6. the pool on top of my sister’s apartment in nyc. not only did i get to spend
some qt with the fam everytime i went to nyc, but I also got some r&r at
their rooftop pool. not too shabby. will be missing this in summer when ish and bri move to long island and make way for bambino rapino!
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5. being famous. or pretending to be. i was asked by our marketing
department to be on the gap blog for china. I mean, given my obsession with
myself, i was thrilled. had hair and make up, stylist, photographer, studio and
all…so cool. the pics aren’t half bad either (or so my fans say). check it out http://www.gap.cn/style/2013/zh.html
4. the food at my best friends’ weddings. this was an epic
wedding year with devanshi and shwe both getting hitched in the same month! Lucky
for me, moghul was the caterer for both and the non-stop food/chai/drinks/snacks
was a serious bonus to an already perfect month.
3. kalindi and lukas kim venture to shanghai. what a treat
to have my two fave kiddies (and their parents J)
come to shanghai. I watched these two grow up in sf and it was so cool to spend
time with the kims in my new home of shanghai. when I got sick and couldn’t see
them on their last day, they sent me this video, which also served as a great pick me up
whenever I was homesick or feeling down! (hope you don’t mind the kids’ cameo
david and shanti!)
2. three michelin stars in osaka. hard to beat this culinary
experience; it was so unique, it has to stand out among all the insane eating
hao and I did this year. we climbed into this tiny room from this tiny window
(behind hao in the pic below) and were served from a hidden sliding door by the
owner’s wife. simply incomparable.
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| check out houseofhaos.com for the full menu rundown |
1. everything about hao’s proposal was perfection but my favorite part of the whole trip was our first meal the evening
right after we got engaged. we went to this tiny place called verjus and we had
such an adrenaline rush and insanely empty stomachs that we may have had the
best meal of our engaged lives (ok maybe I should speak for myself). i love this
picture so much, vainly because it shows off my ring and my mani, but also
because it reminds me of the best night of my life (thus far) with my boo [insert
‘awww’ or 'barrff' here]. more to come on this subject.
so there's a peak into my year. i hope you all had equally blogworthy years. i, for one, am looking forward to a lot this upcoming year. moving back to ny, becoming an aunt, planning a wedding, spending time with the fam, etc etc. nothing is better than sharing all these things with the people you love. gag. :) see you in 2014. xin nian kuaile!
