spooked

I may be a little bit obsessed with Halloween right now. Just a little.

Last year I did some marathon Halloween partying; this year, we're making the party come to us. The lovely roomies and I are in Halloween party planning mode so I've got pumpkins and ghouls on the brain 24/7. I had some work to do tonight but instead I found myself perusing some chillingly amazing pumpkin carvings by Ray Villafane, caramel apples and spider cakes at Williams-Sonoma, and boozy pumpkin milkshakes (among TONS of other Halloween-themed cocktails) by those crazy ladies at Fashionably Bombed. I can hardly wait for the trick or treating to begin!

Are you ready to get spooked?

thank you details

It's been awhile since I last obsessed about Robert Pattinson. I actually haven't touched the Twilight DVD in maybe half a year, and I didn't even cough up $14 to watch New Moon. I kinda forgot about him, really, while I went about with life. But when I saw this cover of Details magazine at a subway newsstand, it all came back full force. Sweet Jesus, he is one ridiculously good-looking kid. Though I'm still not coughing up the cash to watch his new flick, Remember Me.

Now, if you have nieces and daughters who are in love with Edward Cullen, I suggest you steer them clear of the Details shoot pictures. Quite risqué, definitely NSFW and styled to fascinate men, not teenage girls. The interview is actually a good read but I'm not posting the link here because I don't want my little sister clicking on it (I know you're old enough to know how to use Google, Katie, but DON'T DO IT). For all you adults out there, Google and read away.

Now to have sweet dreams of this bloody handsome fellow. Good night!

derek ramsey

So yesterday a bunch of us girls went to watch I Love You, Goodbye over in Jersey City. For the most part, I loved the movie but I was not crazy about the ending. I don't think it makes sense. It's just the Filipino penchant for happy endings at work, I suppose, but it just seemed so forced.

I loved the movie largely because of the extremely hot Derek Ramsey. I never fancied him before but in this movie he's just WOW. So intense and, in the words of his namesake Derek Zoolander, really really good-looking. My friend Abby told me to look up Derek Ramsey's Lucky Me commercial. She said and I quote, "Sana ako na lang yung sabaw", which roughly translates to, "I wish I was the soup." You'll see what I mean ...

Me being a Filipina living away from the motherland though, I was torn for a few seconds. Did I want him or did I want the soup? I haven't eaten lomi in YEARS! That's pretty yum too ...

It's another freezing day in New York. I only braved the cold for a bagel and coffee (seems to be my new morning routine—and yes I'm aware of how fattening bagels are but it's my breakfast and lunch), and am now just gonna spend the afternoon catching up on my favorite blogs and lazing about. Hope you're enjoying a chill Sunday!

new moon

I'm quite resigned to the idea that New Moon will not be the best movie ever (since I didn't even really like the book), but I am still SUPER excited to get my Edward Cullen fix! Looking forward to spending Sunday afternoon staring deep into Edward's eyes. Any of you guys watching?

In the meantime, I'm kinda loving these pictures of Kristen & Rob from the current issue of Harper's Bazaar. From relative anonymity to the cover of Harper's Bazaar in a little more than a year? They've come a long way, baby.

i blame anthony bourdain

Last night, before going to bed, I watched an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations where the gastronomic adventurist was eating all sorts of fabulous curries in Sri Lanka. By the time I hit the off button on my DVR, I had a mad craving for curry. It was insufferable. I ended up lying in bed Yelping "Indian buffet" places within a 1-mile radius of my apartment. It was 3am by then so I had to content myself with the idea of stuffing myself for lunch the next day. But before I went to bed, I decided I would visit Dhaba. I live on the fringe of Murray Hill, which has come to be known to Manhattanites as Curry Hill for the profusion of Indian restos. Dhaba is one of them. How did I settle on Dhaba?

It wasn't just because one of the Yelp reviewers said that while she was chomping on naan there one night in June, Robert Pattinson and Emilie de Ravin walked in (they had another person with them so they weren't technically on a date, if you must know!). But yes, the idea that I might use the same silverware as Pattinson was a bit of a motivating factor. The main reason I picked Dhaba was because the first few restaurants that came up on Yelp were vegetarian, and I'm a strict carnivore.

But anyway, today I walked over to Dhaba at 12 noon, got a table for 1, descended on the buffet, and came back with this:

I concentrated mainly on the chicken tikka masala, as you can see, some bhuna lamb mirchwala and chicken biryani. I liked how they served all sorts of bread: naan, poori and batura. I've never tried anything other than naan before so that was pretty cool. They also serve you some freshly cooked chicken tandoori tableside, but I missed out on that because I was done eating by the time they came around to my table. No worries, I didn't have space anyway. This little indulgence put me over the edge:

It was my first time to ever try tawe ka gulab jamun, fried milk balls swimming in cardamom flavored sugar syrup. So deliciously decadent that I had to take every last bite, even if it felt like my stomach was going to burst. I also had a bit of Punjabi kheer, cardamom flavored rice pudding punctuated with raisins and slivers of almonds and pistachio. The pudding tempered the very sweet milk balls quite nicely. Definitely a wonderful way to cap off a meal.

The price for the buffet was $12.95, which is expensive to me as I know that there plenty of good Indian buffets in the city for just $7 or $8. But I enjoyed the meal anyway, so it was no big deal. I satisfied a craving so intense that had Pattinson walked in, I might not have managed to tear myself away from the chicken tikka masala long enough to ask for a picture. Or so I like to think.

Dhaba is located at 108 Lexington Avenue, between 27th and 28th Streets.

gripe of the day

I officially hate Emilie de Ravin. Not only is she getting hot and heavy with Rob Pattison on the set of their upcoming movie Remember Me, but the chick has no cellulite! Argh. How I hate being in my late 20s.

Update: She is my age! And has no cellulite. I reeeeaaaaaally hate her now.

One more gripe: I just read that the two of them were seen smoking cigs outside Freemans! Never thought I'd ever say this, but I suddenly wish I was still working at Loreley across the street. ARGH.

i know this is the third twilight post but i can't help it

Sorry guys, it's just that my boyfriend is off in Finland so I'm can't help but get obsessed over a 22-year-old faux vampire. I just came across these pics from a Twilight cast shoot at Vanity Fair and had to obsess a bit ... This one got me specifically because of the ring Kristen is wearing.

I sent out that Panther ring on shoots a bazillion times (and tried it on a similar number of times) when I was interning at Cartier. I therefore conclude that I have somehow touched Robert Pattinson's killer mug.

That's all I really wanted to say. Now for more droolworthy pics. THIS is why I'm crazy over Pattinson. If only he looked like this all the time (and showered more).

Sweet Jesus, the hotness.

you dirty, dirty boy

Thinking of the character Edward Cullen in Twilight still makes me all weak-kneed, but reality seems determined to crush my daydreams into teeny tiny pieces. Robert Pattinson is apparently part of that legion of actors who feel it's unnecessary to bathe and wash their hair, according to People.com. Come to think of it, my other Hollywood crush Brad Pitt also once said on an interview that he gets fussed over so much on sets that during his time off, he doesn't pay much attention to showering or washing his hair (this was when he had loooooong hair, mind you). Hmm. Well if lack of hygene directly correlates to success, then Pattinson is destined for greatness! But dammit, why oh why must my biggest crush since Jordan Knight (I was 10, give me a break) have to be averse to showers? Sad face.

Also, another gem: Pattinson once took out a fan that was stalking him to dinner. Guess what happened? She got so bored that she stopped stalking him. Hmm. This guy sounds like a keeper.

On the other hand, does that mean if I stalk him long enough he'll take me out to dinner too?

I'm kidding, my sweetie (the real one), I'm totally kidding.

twilight

I like to think of myself as being ahead of the curve, a trend-setter ... but I'm really not. I'm so behind the curve, in fact, that I just saw Twilight today. I didn't really bother with it before because I thought it was something for 12-year-olds. I mean, geez, my baby sister loves Twilight. The same baby sister who was running around in diapers when I was already going to prom. The same baby sister that someone once mistook as my own child when I was taking care of her (Hello, I was only sixteen and Juno I am not).

But today someone popped in the DVD after Easter lunch and I thought, why not, what else am I going to do? And oh my god, I loved that movie. I totally felt that teenage torn-apart-by-love confusion, that I-will-do-anything-to-be-with-you-even-become-a-vampire bit. And my oh my, I must say, I totally crushed on Robert Pattinson for the entire movie. How hot is this tall, dark, helplessly in love, overprotective vampire? My goodness, he took my breath away. I remember seeing a picture of him in normal life and was like, what's up with that hair ... I couldn't like him without the lowlighting, I think, but in this role, holy cow. I might just be part of that jostling crowd lining up to see the first screening when the sequel comes out. Oh, and I'm totally stealing my little sister's Twilight book.

And he can cook too!

While researching a story that I'm writing on Park Avenue Winter/Spring/Summer/Autumn, I learned that their brilliant chef Craig Koketsu is pretty freakin' hot! Check him out:

This guy rose up the ranks from being a humble dishwasher to one of New York's most popular chefs. AND he has the b*lls to serve a kick-ass brocolli and Cheetos dish to his Park Avenue patrons. Imagine that! Hmm I should've asked for an interview ...