Things I Like Lately

Today's post is about a few things, both fashion-related and not, that I've been enjoying lately as things get busier for me at the office. 

First, I've recently tried two new-to-me fast-casual Chinese restaurants that are both excellent and which I highly recommend. In the years since I first moved to NYC to attend law school in 2012, there's been a noticeable trend of really good Chinese restaurants opening all over Manhattan, including one of K and I's favorites, a Shanghainese spot called Little Alley, a few years ago. 

One of these new-to-me restaurants is Milu, which serves a few slightly nontraditional dishes, their duck confit-like dish is somewhat unusual, as is their interpretation of a pineapple bun stuffed with pastry cream and pineapple curd. My favorite dishes on their menu are the Yunnan-style brisket - so flavorful! - and the smashed cucumber salad that comes as a side with most of the rice bowls or entrees. 

The other new-to-me restaurant is Awesum Dim Sum, which is a fast-casual spot serving really great dum sum that's at least as good as any of the popular places in Manhattan's Chinatown. (I haven't gone out for dim sum in Flushing or Sunset Park before, so I can't compare to the restaurants there.) The menu here is more traditional, and all the dishes I like from bigger, sit-down dim sum restaurants are available here. Some of the dishes I tried are pictured above. The standout dish for me was the Phoenix Rolls served in broth towards the left, it's not normally one of my favorites, but Awesum Dim Sum's version was really good. And the har gao, shrimp cheung fun, baked bbq pork buns, and egg tarts were also great, as was everything else we tried. 

Second, I've been really enjoying the F1: Drive to Survive documentary series on Netflix. Outside of gymnastics and figure skating, I don't really follow any sports at all and definitely don't have any interest in motorsports or Formula 1. But this series does a good job of playing up the inherent drama of the sport and making things reasonably accessible to viewers like me who don't know anything about the sport. The personalities involved in the sport are, let's just say, incredibly dramatic, so the series is fun to watch.

Third, I wanted to recommend Rose @thecreativeclassicist on Instagram, because her outfits are really cool. As part of discovering and enjoying Amy Smilovic and Tibi's personal style-related content on Instagram, I was looking through accounts tagging Tibi to see how their designs translate on other real-life customers. Rose's outfits are pretty cool! Her personal style is definitely a bit more adventurous and modern than mine. 

Fourth is something else I discovered through following Amy Smilovic and Tibi, a really interesting jewelry brand called Completedworks. Completedworks is stocked at Ssense, Net-a-Porter, and Matches Fashion (affiliate links),  but I think their best selection is on their website. Two of their designs that I like, the F34 and Unfolded earrings, are pictured above. In general, I find their earrings to be especially intriguing.

Alas, I'm not really in the market for any jewelry right now, particularly earrings. Because we'll likely be wearing masks in public indoor settings in NYC for quite some time yet - as we should, to protect each other - now is hardly the time for big, eye-catching earrings that could get caught on or tangled in mask straps or strings! I find I don't even wear my fairly small Mejuri hoops much these days because my mask straps frequently get hooked onto the open hoop design. But I'll keep Completedworks in mind when I'm ready to wear and shop for earrings again.