Umbrella
I’ve been MIA from blogging for almost a months now. Life is going on but noting exciting has happened; expect constant raining. It rained for a good 2 months; non-stop! The sky was cloudy, dark and depressing. And when it rains, it pours! Most of the times, umbrellas don’t survive the rain. After each rain (or snow in the winter) you see many umbrellas tossed in the trash cans. So if you are caught off-guard by the rain and you buy a $5 umbrella from street vendors, don’t expect to take it home and use it for the second time. Only strong ones survive. Most people have GustBuster umbrellas which has a double-canopy design and the patented temper-hardened steel joint connectors, hexagonal hardened-steel ribs, and reinforced shaft, meanwhile, hold up to heavy use and are built to resist crimping and snapping (via amazon). So as a New Yorker, you have to invest in a good umbrella; something you didn’t have to do as a California resident.
New York in June
I’ve posted pictures from our view from our place with snow in March, and in May, when the city turned green and now it’s June. It’s been raining for a whole month now and it will continue to rain till at least next week! It’s getting warmer and more humid everyday but we haven’t seen the sun yet. I hope we have a long summer before it’s starts getting freezing cold again :(
Mexican Lindo
Last Saturday, we ended our anniversary day with a great Mexican meal. Mexican Lindo is a restaurant right across the street from our place and every time we walked by it, it was jammed packed. We always wanted to try it, but it never happened. That night, it was raining pretty bad and we weren’t feeling like having a big celebrations because of things that were happening in Iran, so we just walked there. It was a FANTASTIC place. It was cute, cozy and romantic with its walls filled with Frida’s portrait and paintings. Our waiter, Frank, was super friendly and when he found out it was our anniversary, he made sure we had a great night. We had Margaritas, chips and salsa, Fajita with rice and bean. It was just what we needed for that day.
Demonstration in front of UN
On our first year wedding anniversary, we did something we will never forget for the rest of our lives; we attended a peaceful demonstration with our other fellow Iranian in NY in front of UN to ask them to help our people. We were asking UN to break its silence and condemns what’s been doing to defenseless people in Iran. We want them to put more pressure on international community in renouncing regime cruelty toward people. It was a very emotional day. We chanted, screamed and tired to have our voice heard by the international community and news channels. We are hoping and dreaming to see our beloved country, Iran, free.
*I had to blur out people’s faces for security purposes.
First Year Anniversary
Last Saturday was our first wedding anniversary! We can’t believe it’s been a year already. This past year has been one of the best years of my life. It is such a great feeling to wake up everyday next to your best friend, and come home to him at night. We hope to grow old together and do things to show each other our love everyday. We are looking forward to many more happy years to come :)
Nikki Beach
Last weekend, one of my old and dear friends was in town so we went out for a drink. We were suppose to meet up at Nikki Beach, a trendy bar/club in Midtown that is almost impossible to get into unless you buy their bottle service. As soon as we saw the line we changed our mind and went to W Hotel lounge. After an hour, a friend of my friend had a table there and said she can get us in. So we went back to Nikki Beach and walked straight in. The inside was actually pretty nice; all white decor, vaulted ceilings, bamboo posts and rustic wood tables. But it was crazy loud and crowded. The music was good though and we danced for a while and had fun. It reminded me again that how good it feels to have your friend around.
Cupcake Stop
On another cupcake note, i saw this truck on my way to work and i was surprised: cupcake on the go! The company is called Cupcake Stop and they are NYC’s first Mobile Gourmet Shop. On their website says that their idea is based on the fact that New Yorkers are always on the go but despite this, they still deserve to indulge themselves with a gourmet snack. I haven’t tired their cupcakes yet but based on their website they have a variety of flavors and they come in 2 sizes. They also sell gourmet coffee, tea and an assortment of other beverages. They are usually on two specific locations but you can also follow them on twitter to find out where they are at any given time. I think this is a brilliant idea! The life in the city is so fast paced that you often forget to indulge yourself and what’s better than cupcakes to do so!
Crumbs Bake Shop
As many of you might now, i have a sweet tooth! As a result, i am always looking for new bakery/pastry places. I discovered Crumbs Bake Shop almost a month ago when one of my co-workers brought some cupcakes to work from this store. I must say, i am in LOVE. Their cupcakes are far better than Magnolia Bakery and Sprinkles. They have a great variety of cupcakes and unlike other places, they don’t come with heavy layer of frosting on the top. I went there last weekend and got two cupcakes: apple cobbler and red velvet (the one in the picture). I ate the apple cobbler too quickly that i forgot to take a picture of it. But i am sure i’ll be their regular customer and this time i remember to take a picture before eating it ;)
Tenzen
In NY, you options are endless when it comes to picking a place to eat. I once heard that even if you eat out everyday at a different place, there are still gonna be places you haven’t tried. Also, if you live in the city, you tend to hang out mostly in your own neighborhood and you often don’t venture out to other areas. So we’ve been trying to go to different places in different areas almost every weekend. Couple of weeks ago we went to Tenzan sushi in Upper West Side and we really liked it. It was a cute little place, with a great menu, descent prices and extremely polite and nice waiters (which is very rare in NY!). We’ll defiantly go back.
Iran’s Presidential Election
On June 12th many people went to the voting stations in hope that their favorite reformist candidate (Mousavi) becomes the president of Iran and defeat the current hard-line president, Ahmadinejad. But now, people inside and outside of Iran are shocked by the outcome (Admadinejad won with a landslide) and they are accusing the government of lies, hypocrisy and fraud. Today, the day after the election, people were marching down the streets protesting against the results of the election, chanting “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the coup d’état!”. There has been many incidents of collision between police and the Revolutionary Guards with people. Men and women have been beaten by batons and there are even reports of death.
From here, we feel helpless. We fear for the life of our friends and family and don’t know how to help them. Many people have changed their profile picture on facebook to the above to show their anger. There are many videos posted on youtube by the people in Iran and CNN has its correspondent, Christian Amanpour reporting from there. Right now facebook and youtube are filtered and all cellphones are disabled as well as the SMS feature so our communication with people inside of Iran is very limited. We are praying for our people and are waiting to see how these events unfolds in the upcoming days. (you can view some of the pictures from the riot here)