Let the Hibernation Begin

So long to my Saturday hour-long lunch breaks at Bryant Park. I sat around for about five minutes and then I had to get up and walk around to get my blood circulating. The lawn had been replaced with an ice skating rink, shops and restaurant.


This is how it looks like at night. I took this picture several days ago.

After class, I met my friend and her dog, Charlie, at Union Square to shop around. For dinner, we went to the Lower East Side, where she lives, to have pho. Nothing tastes better on a cold day than a bowl of pho! Since she lives on the border of Chinatown, we walked to a grocery store to get some asian snacks. When I walked in the stinky, fishy-smelling place, I felt like I was home again! Well, not my home as in my mom's house, but home as in Little Saigon, where I used to go grocery shopping with my mom every weekend.


The grocery store was across the street from Egg Custard King Cafe, so I wanted to try their custard. After all, their name has "king" in it, so it had to be good. And oh yes, it was good. It had a flaky, crispy crust and a warm, soft egg-y center. (I got the picture from the internet.)


My friend had to go back and take Charlie for a walk. Before I thought I wanted to have two English Bulldogs, but after seeing my friend walk for blocks (in the cold) without her dog even pooing, I've reconsidered having dogs.


With all that walking we did, and since pho and custard weren't enough to blow up my tum tum, we stopped by Sugar Sunshine Sweet Bakery for cupcakes and hot chocolate. I've had cupcakes from Buttercup Bake Shop, but these cupcakes were soooooo much better. One bite of my pumpkin spice cupcake and I was in party-in-my-mouth heaven. The frosting was creamy and not too sweet and the cupcake was moist and soft. I fell in love. How sad is that--my first love in NYC is with a cupcake.

I think this is how my weekends are going to look from now on. Eat, eat, eat and sleep.