我的长寿面

家里从来没有过生日的习惯，连长寿面也是到美国以后才开始吃的。今年也不例外，和爸妈隔着半个地球，为我吃了一碗长寿面，互保平安和庆祝又一年丰富生活。 - JON 12/28

Princeton

Sunday after Christmas. Unseasonably warm at 52° F with crystal clear skies. Few people on campus...

Merry Xmas @ Tien & Tom's

The party continues...with hot pot @ Tien + Tom's.
























Just remember, there are more than one position to WIN:) haha



Greens: a must-have for hot pot.















































LOOOVE the Glühwein







Kill and down those squigglies, LOL



Cheers











I see SMALL PEOPLE on the pot

























Who's drunk???



A kiss is sealed w/ a bottle of Canada's Icewine

It's very important that Tom's happy, haha.



Now look WHO IS DRUNK...

老朋友们的圣诞日

十几年的朋友们，更因每家有少有老，能常聚聚的已经很少了。今年的圣诞日，能有老朋友们冒雨捧场，延续了我们数年的传统，太不易了，所以万分感谢！

The place of happiness -> Kitchen:)

Two flavors of dumplings: Squash and Dill

Lemon tart

Puff pastry with ham and cheese

Caramelized Apple Pie

Yan Ming's 梅菜扣肉（Steamed Pork with Preserved Vegetable）太完美了。

Sauteed string beans

Yuan Yuan家的炒面太好吃了！

莲藕排骨汤



在锅里的饺子们:)



Lucas























Tyler















Tyler's walking mission completed...







Yan

2009年的留念

Merry Xmas @ Chris et Baju

Always great fun @ Chris and Baju's. LOve the DELICIOUS food and conversations to catch up with friends. Just how a peaceful, joyous Xmas Eve should be spent:) Chris and Baju, thanks you both!!!

A little fun Xmas decoration lightens up the spirit.





Courtesy of Chris and Baju



















These are mushrooms, they are soooo delicious

Ratatouille??? amazing!



Of course, Charles' dumplings



Rin's dessert candies'. Dont' they all look as CUTE as buttons?????

Of course, we have ALL seen the queens by now:) haha









A Christmas toast, woohooo to everyone!!!





Matt, so clean cut tonight:)









Aya





A window w/ a view:)



Study THESE tools very very carefully, and you will know THERE IS MUCH TO LEARN:) LOL

Can't we get ENOUGH of these Queens??? haha

Another drag buddha?





Chris' is behind this master game of surpises involving a BIG ROUND OBJECT:)



















Lucky Aya was the 1st to get this BIG ROUND object, and she wasn't too hesitant to pass it along...





Yoshi-san got a tatoo of fairies which he'd soon part with.





You go girl, hit him w/ the BIG ROUND object:) LOL

Well, the OBJECT ended up with Yoshi-san finally

Which led to the big surprise present from Chris and Baju...paparazziii time...

Lucky Yoshi-san

Not sure what has put Charles in such an intoxicated mood:)

Group shots





























Outside, Park Slope Brown Stones are so lovely at night











Moto-bike, how European:)

Snow Day

It was only non-sticking snow flakes around 3:30pm on Sat...Canal St, existing off Manhattan Bridge onto Holland tunnel

A quick stop @ Harbor-side to pick up Yan



Newport apartments are pretty yay?

Sunday after the big snow storm, @ Michael's in Ocean Grove, NJ









The Lyric Manor

Neighborhood



Ocean Grove beach after the storm









The hood, again

The Great Auditorium of Ocean Grove

Beautiful town covered in snow



























Blow it up:)















Back to Newport, freezing me arse off, LOL



Tourists on Canal st, unintimidated in the face of snow:)

Little Italy, Mulberry St.

Elizabeth, China Town



Off LIE, turning on to the kewl town of Maspeth





Arrived home on Sunday, the backyard is under a foot of unspoiled snow. Lovely!





It's an elephant, not a biggy:)



LIRR

Merry Xmas @ The Lyric Manor

Amazing job of Michael's to have converted an old Victorian house in Ocean Grove, NJ to this beautiful manor with all modern amenities to boot. Two blocks from ocean front and just south of Asbury Park, it belongs to the prime spot of summer vacationers flocking the Jersey shore.

With the glistening holiday decorations, the manor shines in warmth and Christmas spirits on a cold winter storm night that saw 20-inches of snow powder here.





























































Love the exposed brick feature:)



Roxy, roxy, roxy... she's so cute & friendly and cozies up to everyone!











A night of Whovillenopoly(???) game

Brian, the banker:) explaining the rules of money



Us v.s. them, after the merger



Brian, offering up a (leathal, LOL) trade...

At the heyday of our empire, we occupied the south beach and the 5th Ave:-> Well this is before we over expanded with houses, and a streak of bad luck finally took us out at the end.



Always count your money...







Mark and Charles, debating on issues in the wee hours of the night

Outside, snowing unabated









Next morning...





















A little Feng Sui goes a long way:)









I love this picture...so holy:)

Merry Xmas from Forest Hills

Neighborhood lights are getting scarce as more and more immigrants move in:(

Austin st.









Forest Hills LIRR station



Aged houses in Forest Hills





























Argentinean Steaks in Queens???

Merry Xmas from NYC

The grease trucks are in holiday spirits too:)

The magnificent St Patrick's Cathedral

























AX and Cartier

AX knows that sex sells







Bling bling







Macy's window decor is just so-so this year





















Empire State Building

Yufang's Birthday and Housewarming

It's all about the people and Christine's amazing ability to attract them:) Thx for a great time and happy birthday Yufang!!!

Buenos Aires Misc

A church converted into a university classroom building in Recoleta

The BA Botanical Garden

Along the walk to Florida Ave.

Florida Ave. the famous touristy shopping pedestrian street





The Christmas decorations inside a shopping mall on Florida













The strikingly beautiful Jacaranda trees with its blue flowers put BA in its mesmerizing mood

Centro Cultural Recoleta

A day of leisure around the Recoleta Cultural Centre and the beautiful Basilica Nuestra Señora Del Pilar



In the cultural center, an exhibit is contributed to Carlos Thays, the French-born Argentine architect and landscape designer of the lovely Buenos Aires Botanical Garden. Below are replicates of his paintings





Other exhibits

Recoleta, a quarter strongly influenced by French architecture

Outside the center

Cementerio de La Recoleta

Need I say more? The famous Recoleta Cemetery in BA.











The resting place of Eva Perón

La Boca

Our friend Hide-san gave us a last-minute tip to visit La Boca. Thanks Hide. What a fun experience!

From El Sol to La Boca, we took bus #152 along Av. Santa Fe, and got off the last stop. Yup, we took the bus and it was quite safe. Don't try rush hour though and always be ready with plenty of changes for the bus fare.

Bus #152

The bus dropped us off right in La Boca, where at the time an outdoor installation was set up to introduce the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Local art students

The touristy area in La Boca is rather small and can be covered in less than an hour if we hurry.

Tango dancers can be found all around for you to take pictures with, in exchange of a fee.

The place is very touristy, but with a lot of character.



































































Go La Boca!!!



Benito Quinquela Martín, the Argentinean painter whose legacy made La Boca what it is today.

Nice building and facade, but abandoned.

A Night of Art @ Centro Cultural Recoleta

Buenos Aires, a modern cosmopolitan with a rich European history, offers such diverse experiences that one can surely find something interesting at any time of the day.

The city's active promotion of arts and culture reminds me of the artsy atmosphere I experienced in Barcelona. On our first night, we wandered into the Recoleta Cultural Centre where a week-long exhibit was just kicked off. The center offers three floors of exhibit space, teeming with artists and fans alike, with one auditorium where some experimental cinema was on viewing. All of this open and free to the public. We loved the night.





fantastic!

Amazing cloth work.

















On the corridor, paper bugs were sticking on the walls with video installations that resembled an alien bug invasion:)



Splitting mind syndrome??

Love the crudeness

Speechless

Impressive abstracts

hmmm....Squigglies tickles my mind:)

A dreamy rendition of a tranquil town

how blasphemous, love it:)

Left the center around 9pm, bumped into a local wedding held in Basilica Nuestra Señora Del Pilar. It was a magic moment, seeing the priest chairing the wedding with a live choir singing the wedding song... The bride was on cloud nine:)