It’s always exciting getting to meet online friends in person, but it was extra meaningful when I finally got the chance to hang out with Acire this winter because we’ve known each other for so long – way way way back in the ol’ LJ days. We reconnected this year BECAUSE OF EXO LMAO and since she’s in the city for her spring semester, we decided that we had to make use of the opportunity to see each other as much as possible.

Our meetup location was very romantically inside of Penn Station since Acire had to travel all the way in from LI :'( We did a quick gift exchange, since it was still the holiday season, and she handed me an ENORMOUS box and told me not to open it till I got home – ooooooh. We took a walk around the city and found our way to Pam Real Thai on the West Side.

SO CUTE T3T

Crabmeat fried rice

Tom Yum Nam Khon – spicy coconut seafood soup

Oxtail soup

We were RAVENOUS by the time we got there so it led to making the bad decision of ordering way more food than we could handle in one sitting, but oh my god – the oxtail soup is the most amazing thing I’ve ever tasted. Acire told me it got rave reviews, but even though I’m a huge soup fan (CANTO LYFE), I was skeptical because “it was juuuust oxtail soup.” WELL I WAS WRONG. It’s the perfect combination of savory, spicy and sour and my mouth is watering right now just thinking about it. I love hot & sour soup so this was just up my alley. I think we could have used a few more pieces of oxtail, but oh MAN it was just so good. In fact, all the food was just so good – the fried rice had so much crabmeat in it and the tom yum nam khon was sooooo creamy and layered in flavors. DELICIOUS.

We really ordered way too much though – so we ended up walking only a few blocks and sought refuge in a library where we could sit, chat and whine about how full we were.

Once we recovered enough, we went and checked out the vendors at the Holiday Shops in Bryant Park.

It was lovely! Tons of people were waiting to get into the skating rink, but Acire and I were mostly interested in seeing what doodads people were selling. There were a few times that we almost caved and bought things that were terribly overprices (expensive knit hats wtf expensive astronomy prints wtf) and at one point, we spent a good 20 minutes in one shop just smelling candles. Acire got caught in a surprise phone interview, which I’m happy to say that we got the position! Eventually, we settled with grabbing a table and just chatting some more about our lives ;^;

We had to part ways pretty early because Acire had to catch her train back to LI, but when I got home, I remembered to open the giant box that Acire had me carry all day and then when I saw what it was, I almost died.

Spunky Action, Baby!’s LE GRANDE BLEU PHOTOBOOK!!! ACIRE IS CRAZY. CRAZY GENEROUS. I ended up just laying everything on the floor and rolling around in it because PCY is so cute and SAB’s photo quality is extraordinary. Lots of great special gifts as well ;^; Thank you Aciiiiiire.

*One day when I have my own place, I’ll lay all my kpop photobooks out on the coffee tables like they’re casual reading. Oh, did you expect to flip through an architecture magazine? Oops, jk you’re looking at handsome pop idols.

And then week or so later, Acire stopped in to visit me at work (she’s like the only visitor I’ve ever had lmao U^U) and we stopped by in Ktown for dinner at Kunjip. I think it’s become a running joke how much food we order because again we tried to eat more than it was physically possible for us to consume and basically cried.

The next time Acire and I saw each other, we were determined not to hURt OUrSelVSES and went for small izakaya eats at Sake Bar Hagi. The last time I was at Sake Bar was with Liz, V and Catherine during the summer of 2013 and back then, I already knew I wanted to go back to try more of their delicious food. The menu this time consisted of takowasa (sliced raw octopus), grilled beef tongue, fried chicken gizzards, chicken liver and gizzard yakitori, a seafood okonomiyaki and takoyaki. I so regretful that I didn’t have my dslr with me! I’ve been terrible about carrying it around because it’s pretty heavy with the kit lens, but I might have to because my phone camera is such a joke! Wish I could have gotten a better photo of the beef tongue and fried gizzard because it was AMAZING. Acire and I both let out simultaneous gurgles of joy when we had the beef tongue. Sadly, both of the yakitori were kind of mediocre – the grilling didn’t do enough to get rid of that game-y taste that offal sometimes has. We went for the regular takoyaki as opposed to the fried kind and it was good, but also just kind of fell apart when we tried to pick them up :(

I’ve gotta say that work hasn’t been the easiest experience getting used to and it’s meant the world to me that Acire not only works/goes to class somewhat nearby, but is always around to see me and bring me surprises :( Baby girl surprised me with a whole meal just the other week because I was having a tough day T_T How can you be so sweet????? But really truly from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for being my friend :’] ♡ and let’s see each other even more this year!!!!