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NYC: O Ya, the Big Apple Omakase, My Favorite Meal of 2015

NYC Eats: What I Ate in My Last 30 Days as a New Yorker

NYC Eats: July 2015 Restaurant Roundup

NYC: Fuku, A Perfectly Fried Chicken Sandwich in East Village

NYC: The Breslin, Michelin-Rated English Pub Food

60 Days Left in NYC: My Eating Hit List, Summer 2015

NYC: Sakagura, a Japanese Lunch in Midtown East

NYC: Robataya, a Fun and Authentic Japanese Meal

NYC: Del Posto, the Perfect Meal to Impress!

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Two months ago, I was officially diagnosed with AD Two months ago, I was officially diagnosed with ADHD and it feels like SUCH a relief to have some answers to the question: WHY AM I LIKE THIS!? Coming into 2021, I set 2 goals for myself (instead of the 10-20 that I typically aim for). As I do more research, I see how ADHD impacts these 2 goals and why I may have struggled with these issues my whole life. Here are my goals and how ADHD impact these areas: 1๏ธโƒฃ๐—›๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ & ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต๐˜ ๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€ I've dealt with issues with my weight all my life and it's definitely because I love to eat. People with ADHD often use food as a source of stimulation. No one knows exactly what causes a person to have ADHD, but some researchers have noted that people with ADHD have lower levels of dopamine than those without ADHD. This means I am often looking to food as a source of stimulation, and when the dopamine spikes from that, I want more and I can't stop. These days, I stop myself when I reach for snacks and ask: are you hungry, or are you looking for stimulation? If you're hungry, would you eat an apple? (The answer is USUALLY no lol). Exercise turns out to be an excellent source of stimulation and dopamine, so if I can find the motivation to work out more often, this can be a win-win. ๐Ÿ˜‰ 2๏ธโƒฃ๐——๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€/๐—ฐ๐—น๐˜‚๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐˜ I am an aesthetic person stuck in a messy person's body. I just want SOOOO bad to live in a clean house but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get myself to tidy and do this housework. Some people find stimulation in cleaning their home, that is not true for me. I've learned that listening to podcasts or audiobooks allows me to multi-task and stay mentally stimulated enough to keep cleaning. I'm still exploring new solutions and I hope by the end of this year, I will find new ADHD strategies that work for me, and I can't wait to share that with you! ๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธ๐—–๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€? Not everyone who suffers from this has ADHD, but in this instant gratification society that we live in today, who doesn't deal with dopamine management issues? Let me know in the comments if you have any tips for me! โค๏ธ
โœจ๐Ž๐ฎ๐ซ ๐Š๐ข๐ญ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐‘๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐๐ž๐ฅ + ๐’๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐œ๐ž๐ฌ โœจ #ontheblog today, I'm sharing all the details for our kitchen remodel! This is a highly requested post as I know many of you are in the process of moving into your first home and making upgrades of your own! Swipe for some good ol' before and afters ๐Ÿ™ˆ A kitchen remodel is such an involved project full of critical expensive decisions. It is so stressful at the time, but so rewarding when it's finally finished. As I edit these pictures to post on the blog, I am still in disbelief that this kitchen is really mine! I've dreamed of having a kitchen like this, and even though I've been in this home 24/7 in the past year, there's something about having it formalized on the blog that makes it feel just that much more special. ๐Ÿ˜ I tried to answer as many common questions I get on the blog, but if I missed anything, feel free to comment, I'm happy to share what I've learned and consult. ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿปโ€๐Ÿ’ปLink to blog in profile.
๐Ÿ˜˜ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐š๐ซ๐ž, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ž๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก! ๐Ÿ˜˜ I don't know who needs to hear this today, but this is something that's taken me a LONG time to understand and internalize. You do not need to be good at everything to be enough. "Imposter Syndrome" is such a hot topic especially for women in tech. We work in such a fast pace environment so it's common to feel unsure about what you're doing. We're all learning and improvising as we go, so just feeling unsure of what you're doing does not make you a fraud or imposter. ๐Ÿคซ BTW, here's a secret that I've learned after working at Google for 10 years: most people are just making it up as they go along too! ๐—ฆ๐—ผ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐˜†๐—ฐ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ณ-๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ธ? A defining moment for me in my career was when I took a personality test at work called Insights for Discovery. If you've never done this activity before, it's very much like the Enneagram or Myers Briggs (I'm a 7w8 and ENFP in case you're wondering). Here's how Insights is different -- instead of assigning you into one box like the other tests, it gives you a breakout of how you score in all 4 colors. Here's mine: ๐Ÿ’› Sunshine Yellow - 44.5% โค๏ธ Fiery Red - 33.1% ๐Ÿ’™ Cool Blue - 15.3% ๐Ÿ’š Earth Green - 7.1% This makes me a "Motivator", can you tell? ๐Ÿ˜‰ When I saw this breakout in a pie chart, something in me clicked. It helped me visualize that I can ONLY be 100%. That's it. No more. If I wanted to be more "Blue", it means I have to give up some of my "Yellow". I am who I am because of this, and I wouldn't want to change it for the world. So stop comparing yourself to someone else who might be stronger in one area than you. Instead, focus on owning your own strength. Embrace it. It's what makes you, YOU. Stop feeling bad about what you're lacking and surround yourself with others who complement your skillset. So let me repeat it, in case no one told you today, you are perfect the way you are, and you are enough. ๐Ÿ˜˜ Are you a personality quiz nerd like me? Please tell me what you are in the comments below! โ™ฅ๏ธ
๐Ÿค‘ ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ $๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ ๐ˆ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ ๐Ÿค‘ We're a few weeks away from finishing our second home renovation project and I keep thanking my lucky stars that I discovered @thehavenly and @marlene_at_havenly last year! ๐Ÿ™ I bought my first design package on impulse at 1am (ADHD brain lol) when I was busy browsing Pinterest for home office ideas. Traditional interior decorators cost around $150/hr so the ~$100 I paid for my Full Design package seemed like a no brainer! Honestly, it sounded too good to be true. But, I figured, what's the worse that can happen? Needless to say, Havenly has far exceeded my expectations and this is my top recommendation for anyone who's struggling to pull a cohesive looking space together. I'm working on a blog post to share my tips for using Havenly for your home renovations. Do you have any questions for me? Comment below, I'm more than happy to answer and share more! To get $50 off your first Havenly package, you can use my referral link: https://havenly.com/referral/tde9b43e10 (Full transparency, this is an affiliate link, so I'll get some Havenly credit from it. Win-win! ๐ŸŽ‰)
๐ŸŒŠ ๐‹๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž'๐ฌ ๐š ๐›๐ž๐š๐œ๐ก, ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ? ๐ŸŒŠ I've been pretty transparent here and on my blog about my personal struggles with mental health over the last few years. I'm usually such a positive person so when I'm hit with these negative emotions, I don't know how to deal. Today, I wanted to share a book with you that I found inspirational in case it's helpful for you as you work through your feelings. In ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ปโ€™๐˜€ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด, Psychiatrist Dr. Viktor Frankl describes his experience in the Nazi concentration camps and his personal lessons for spiritual survival. (I know, heavy topic ๐Ÿ˜ณ.) He describes 2 mindsets of prisoners in the camp: 1) those who lost their hold on life because everything became so pointless 2) others who gave themselves purpose by being helpful and a source of light to those around them "People forgot that often it is just such an exceptionally difficult external situation which gives man the opportunity to grow spiritually beyond himself...we could say that most men in a concentration camp believed that the real opportunities of life had passed. Yet, in reality, there was an opportunity and a challenge. One could make a victory of those experiences, turning life into an inner triumph, or one could ignore the challenge and simply vegetate, as did a majority of the prisoners." This passage really spoke out to me because I often find myself spiraling into a mindset of hopelessness and negative emotions, as a result, I want to vegetate and literally become a potato. ๐Ÿฅ” In this book, Dr. Frankl reminds me that there's another way to be. People can give themselves purpose by helping others, this was key to survival. People made jokes to help lighten the mood for others. People shared what little they had with others. It's a reminder that in these dark times, the best way to get through it is by sticking together and to be light to those around us.๐Ÿ•ฏ๏ธ As always, thank you for letting me share. I want to let you know that if you're feeling down right now, you're not alone. DM me if you ever need anything, happy to talk about your feels or make dumb jokes and chat about how life's a beach. โ™ฅ๏ธ
๐Ÿš๐‡๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐Ÿš๐‡๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ง ๐ฒ๐ž๐ญ? ไฝ ้ฃŸๅ’—้ฃฏๆœชๅ‘€? ๐Ÿš No matter the hour, this is the greeting that I'm used to hearing from my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. ๐Ÿ™„There was a period of time when I took this question SOOOO literally -- like ๐Ÿ’ญ"DUH mom, it's 9pm, of course I ate already!" Nowadays, I know better because I know what they are really asking. There was a turning point for me and I'd like to share it with you in case it hasn't clicked already. ๐Ÿ“– ๐—–๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ My mom always told me stories about what it was like for her to grow up in China. "๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—œ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ, ๐—œ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐˜‚๐—ฝ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐Ÿญ ๐—ธ๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ต!" These stories always felt so abstract to me. I understood that they grew up poor, but I don't think it really dawned on me the historical context of what my parents went through. The Great Chinese Famine lasted from 1959-1961. My mom was 6 years old when it started, and it lasted for quite some time. She told me stories about why porridge was so important, because when you don't have enough rice to eat, you can dilute it with water. That way, you can share the little food that you do have with your neighbors. When you ask someone if they've eaten yet, it is out of love. Translation: they want to know if you're doing okay, and if there is anything that they can do to help (literally diluting their tiny portions into bigger portions so you can eat too. ๐Ÿ˜ญ) In Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, physiological needs (food, water, warmth and rest) and safety needs (security and safety) are listed as basic human needs. We immigrated here to America because my parents wanted to make sure that our basic needs were met. This is why it pains me so much to see what's happening to the AAPI community today. Our elders have gone through SO MUCH, and now their basic needs are being taken away from them. I know there's 5 love languages out there, but there ought to be a 6th, which is love through food. So, fam, I want to ask you, ๐—›๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐˜? โค๏ธ
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