Mark Graf Cafe

© Joselito Briones

This one, of Mark Graf Cafe was taken from the produce market "Marktplatz", in front of the Erlangen Schloß.


XXX

Erlangen Photos

© Joselito Briones

I spent most of the day processing the photos I took last Friday and yesterday, and there's quite a lot of them, so for the next few days I'll just be showing you these photos.


XXX

Grüß' Gott

© Joselito Briones

This museum, the Jüdisches Museum München (Jewish Museum of Munich) , opened recently, but when I was there today taking pictures, it was closed and there was still some construction going on around it. The building was designed by Saarbrücken-based architects Wandel Hoefer Lorchural.

"Grüß' Gott" is a very common Bavarian (not for the rest of Germany) greeting and is used pretty much like anyone would say "Have a good day" somewhere else in the world. I think it literally means "Send my regards to God", or something to that effect.


XXX

Eis day

© Joselito Briones
Lovely day. I went for a walk around late in the afternoon and took pictures. There was a long line at the Eishaus (ice cream shop) so I thought I'd get myself some. "Creme Caramel" and "Blau Bär" (picture, above). As is usual, it was impossible to eat it and keep some sort of dignity at the same time. The entire load on the cone (2 enormous scoops) fell on my bare hands seconds after taking this picture. I held the ice cream on my hand for a split second while deciding what to do, and then packed it back on the cone and pretended nothing happened. Kids, and their parents, who saw what happened, were amused. By the time I found a cafe with a public toilette to wash up in, about half an hour later, I realized that they didn't have to witness the de-coning incident to have a laugh at my expense. The darn ice cream was all over my face.


© Joselito Briones

I went through SchlossPark and the pedestrian zone, and by the time I headed back home, it was already dark but ice cream stores (different ones) were still doing good business. Photo above was taken at the carnival in front of the Erlangenschloß.



XXX

Green Apples

© Joselito Briones

My iMac's back. After half a year. Yep, it took that long for the Nürnberg shop to repair it. And it's not even completely repaired yet. This is one of those ocassions when I absolutely miss living in Hong Kong. Everything there goes instantly. You need something fixed? They'll do it for you the next day, if not later the same day. Anyways, it turned out that the power supply was faulty, and the extra memory card - which I now have to replace, was also causing it to malfunction. Am not sure though if it's worth getting an extra memory replacement, as this is very old (it's the first generation of the iMac with the swivel screen on a half-round CPU. I've been using a CPU-in-the-monitor iMac for more than a year now.

Photo, above, is the Apple store in 5th Av. in Manhattan, taken last month.


XXX

Kulit

© Norie Kirker

My Itay's birthday today. He's in California presently. I phoned to wish him a happy birthday, and to inquire again as to how my Inay's doing. They're both doing well, and my mom has a few more test results pending, but she seems to have recovered. I guess that's really all one can wish for.

The photo above was taken in California, the year that two of my brothers (middle and right in the above photo) moved there. The one who's just thrown a snowball to whomever was taking the picture, that's my dad.


XXX

No Drama, Thought Bubbles

© Joselito Briones

Everybody's back from easter holiday today. Email inbox is pretty busy. One of the better news, of course, is that Ronnie's press conference turned out well. The event itself didn't occur, or it didn't have to, but the desired result was achieved nevertheless. His family is 100% in support of his forthcoming marriage to Jerome.

They've of course picked out a date for the wedding, although they've yet to announce the reception venue. Ronnie said they'll most likely go for a countyside venue.

The photo above was taken on the night that they announced their plan to us, on our most recent visit to their apartment in London. As you can see, Mati made a big faux pas (why do English-speaking people call it "faux pas" when it means "il ne faut pas"?) of putting his foot up on the very fabulous, precious, sofa, and Jerome is considering the different possibilities of punishing him.


XXX

US$45 M

© National Properties Holdings Ltd.

This news clip featured a project I worked on for a couple of years, mostly design, when I still worked in Hong Kong for Mr. Joseph Fung's Studio Pantheon II.

The newsclip, from Hong Kong's "The Standard", describes the property, located in 37 Deep Water Bay road, as "Hong Kong's Chateau de Versailles" and reports that it changed hands a year ago for "the astronomical sum of HK$350 millions" (about US$45 millions). Imagine that.


XXX

Happy Man

© Joselito Briones

Ah. The excitement of being in love. His update is that things are still going good with him and the long-distance-for-now girl in the Philippines. He's rather excited about it, more so, I think, than about the condo unit that he purchased recently. He phoned today to inquire about my mom, and mentioned that he himself has been feeling a bit under the weather the past few days.


XXX

1st year Anniversary

© Joselito Briones

Guess what today is? It's my first year anniversary of moving to Erlangen! Can you believe I've been here a year??? I can't. What I can believe though, is that one can basically be in denial of living in a place for a year, maybe more. HA!


XXX

Markknocken vom Rind

© Joselito Briones

Yet another experiment in the kitchen. A bit of a mixture of a traditional Filipino food (Bulalo), and traditional German food (soup ingredients - carrots, celery root, leek, etc.). Beef bone with marrow (Markknocken vom Rind) and meat in clear vegetable soup. Fresh spring onions and thyme topping. What you see is what you get. Okay, not exactly. I placed the bones and poured the soup on a bed of fresh field greens (Feldsalat), which stayed at the bottom of the bowl.


XXX

It's all right

© Joselito Briones

I phoned California today to inquire as to the result of my Mom's hospital visit. It seems like it wasn't her old ailment that's bothering her presently, so she'll back for more tests on Monday.


XXX

Open Cafe season

© Joselito Briones

Spring's here. The weather's beautiful and everybody's out and about. I took pictures of several cafe's in the city, all of them full in the early afternoon, and I'll show them to you in the next few days.

The one above is the Hotel Brasserie in the pedestrian zone, corner Henkestraße, next to it, left, is a small cinema. And no, the colors aren't like this naturally, naturally. I'm experimenting again on giving my pictures an old look.


XXX

Long My

© Joselito Briones

Long My, the Asian grocery store that I usually go to for fresh ingredients when I cook Asian dishes, recently opened a small fast-food restaurant (photo, above), right around the corner from their grocery store, next to the Turkish grocery store (photo, below) where I usually buy fresh fish. It's a very basic, no-frills, Asian restaurant, and the entries on the menu are standard offering for any Asian restaurant here in Erlangen, or Germany, for that matter, but they do try to serve the best food that they could. As is my usual taste-test in such eastern-combo restaurant, I ordered Knusprige Ente, here available in three different kinds of sauce (I went for Hoi Sin sauce, recommended by the owner - #22 in the menu), and it didn't disappoint. The best thing about the restaurant though, just like the Asian grocery around the corner with the same name, are the owners - they're supper friendly.




XXX

Distress Call

© Joselito Briones

Norie phoned today to relay the news that my mom's ill. She'll have to fly back to California on Monday to go to the hospital, so her usual doctor can attend to her.

I so want to go there to be with her... we'll see.


XXX

Wil's Press Release

© Joselito Briones

I am, of course, being coerced to relay this launch. OK! Wonderful. So here it goes.

It's supposed to announce to the world (I think) his current available status. Available for what, you might ask. The website, a I'm-such-a-worldly-guy-I've-travelled-the-whole-world-I'll-make-such-a-great-boyfriend declaration masked as a photography website, is supposed to show the prospect (read: victim) how wonderful his sensitivities are.

If you ask me honestly though, it's all rubbish. He doesn't need such a site. He's a great guy and that's all there is to it.


XXX

It's a wrap!

© Joselito Briones

Well then, today's the day we flew back to Germany. Pretty uneventful, which is pretty much how I prefer it. We got to the airport (Jane drove us) really early, and I had plenty of time to kill, so I decided to edit some of the digital pictures with the iBook that we brought with us on this trip. I used the software from Olympus, called ”Olympus Studio". Pretty good. The most useful feature is the exposure adjustment, and the distortion correction and the fisheye lens distortion correction. I continued editing pictures during the flight, and got very little sleep.


XXX

to JFK

© Joselito Briones

I was thinking of a sappy song to put here, kinda like the one I did last year on my way to the airport, but I couldn't think of any. There wasn't anything to say about the drive either, except for a brief traffic congestion. I guess the only thing remarkable about this morning is that we had pizza for breakfast, while watching "Legally Blonde" on TV. Here's "Drive" anyway, an oldie from Incubus, about making decisions.


DRIVE

Sometimes, I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear
And I can't help but ask myself how much
I'll let the fear take the wheel and steer.
It's driven me before, and it seems to have a vague,
haunting mass appeal.
But lately I'm beginning to find that I
should be the one behind the wheel.

Whatever tomorrow brings,
I'll be there with open arms and open eyes, Yeah
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there..I'll be there.

So, if I decide to waiver my chance to be one of the hive
Will I choose water over wine and hold my own and drive?
Aah-ah-oo-o-o.

It's driven me before and it seems to be the way
that everyone else gets around.
But lately I'm beginning to find that when
I drive myself my light is found.

Whatever tomorrow brings,
I'll be there with open arms and open eyes, Yeahhh
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there...I'll be there.

Would you choose water over wine....hold the wheel and drive?

Whatever tomorrow brings,
I'll be there with open arms and open eyes, Yeah
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there..I'll be there.


-Incubus




XXX

Is this mike on? (Jane's, after)

© Joselito Briones

After all of today's shopping, we met up in the evening with Eric and Jane, to have dinner at Krystal's Cafe also in Roosevelt Avenue (close to Renee's Kitchenette). It was easy to see that Eric and Jane enjoyed it more than our dinner from Cendrillon. I'd have enjoyed it more too, had it not for the karaoke thing that was ongoing when we arrived. Eric was shy to do a number himself, even as he boasts of always being the life of the party, the karaoke star, so he ended up bringing his magic phone to Jane's, where we all went back to after dinner, and sang his heart out there.

As promised, here's the "after" picture of Jane's living room. The mess is all mine and Mati's, of course. We didn't even have time to reconfigure the bed into a sofa to give Eric a proper performance space. I don't know what he's belting out when I took this photo, but yes, he could actually carry a tune.


XXX

The end of the Affair

© Joselito Briones

By the time Jane, Mati and I walked towards Chinatown, it was already drizzling. It's a signal as good as any (there were a few) that this short holiday has ended. No complaints. I guess I can't really expect every thing to go smoothly. Everything else from now until we fly back to Germany (in 2 days), I'll just chuck together as extras.

From Bowery we walked south towards Soho, through Nolita, to Little italy, pass Canal Street towards the south end of Mott Street, to the default place we always go to whenever we go to Chinatown, Hop Kee. The place is newly renovated, and the staff a lot more friendlier than the last time we were there, the food was pretty much the same as before.


XXX

In Harmony

© Joselito Briones

We dropped by Jane's work in the afternoon, "Hom + Goldman", in East 20th Street, to pick her up so we can go for dinner together, and also to say hi to David (they work together again). We also picked up the extra suit bags that my mom made, my dad brought to California, and my brother Noel sent to Jane's office address in New York (we always seem to go through such great lengths to avoid paying excessive shipping fees). We also met her bosses and some of her colleagues. They all seemed to be excited with their forthcoming company trip to Berlin. It's good to finally see Jane contented with her job - she was really unhappy with the previous one.


© Joselito Briones

Before dinner, we decided to go to the other Osh Kosh address that Diana gave us, to see if they have the overalls. We walked south through Broadway (photos, above, were taken along Broadway - on top is a window dressing of a furniture shop, and above is Grace Church), passing by DSW to see if they have any new shoes (they didn't). When we got to the address, just north of Houston Street and south of Bowery, It turned out that the place was the company's design office.


XXX

5th Av.

© Joselito Briones

There was just something about the bright light today. We walked down 5th Avenue from Central Park South to Times Square and along the waywe took so many photos, mostly street scenes. It helped that most of the crowd didn't care at all that they were part of the pictures, and some, although subtly, even posed upon seeing that he might be part of the picture.


© Joselito Briones

Since we were already in the area, we also took the chance to drop by Sak's, just so I can see what I can expect to buy next year. Such is my shopping pattern now. I wait for everything to be on sale before buying what I want. I guess it's not too bad. Last year's fresh fashion here in New York is still pretty advanced when I wear them in Erlangen.


XXX

Park Weather

© Joselito Briones

I thought we might have had been running out of luck, it was grey and cloudy in the morning, but early in the afternoon it started getting bright again. We decided to do the rest of the shopping that we needed to do, friends' requests from Germany. After having lunch at the Filipino place (Renee's Kitchenette in Queens: enormous squid grilled to perfection, king prawns in tamarind soup, grilled fish), we went to midtown, via Central Park South, to Bergdorf Goodman's to get the La Mer creams Arun asked us to get for his wife.


XXX

Jackson Diner

© Joselito Briones

Conveniently located close to Jane's is the Jackson Heights locals' favorite, Jackson Diner. It's a buffet restaurant serving Indian food (I know... didn't I just have buffet food last night? But, hey! I'm on holiday.) They have an a la carte menu, of course, but we just wanted to try as many variety available. Food was good, the price cheap, and, as a bonus, this guy (photo, above) who was so nice to let me take his picture, will make fresh vegetable-filled dosa for you, included in the buffet! Yummm!


XXX

Apple Store

© Joselito Briones

After the heavy dinner, the three of us walked up again by 5th Avenue towards midtown, where we passed by the Apple Store (photo, above). The dramatic entrance (the only thing that can be seen from the street level) is a sleek swirling glass staircase surrounding a see-through elevator. This is the first time I've been to this store, right in front of the legendary F.A.O. Schwarz building, across the legendary Plaza Hotel.

And then it was time to go. Tomorrow we’ll probably do some shopping, and Jens in a few days will take his Chinatown-Boston bus adventure again (at one time, I read on the news, one service had spontaneous combustion, just like that - *snap*).


XXX

Eating seafood like there's no tomorrow

© Joselito Briones

Am referring to myself, of course. After the drinks at Victor's Cafe, and walking through Times Square (photo, above), we ended up going to "Todai" (photo, below), the new reincarnation of "Minado", an old favorite, in Koreatown here in New York.


© Joselito Briones

The main attraction was the fresh oysters, shrimp cocktails, and fresh tuna sashimi. The crab legs were a bit too messy to deal with. Great seafood buffet. Everything else on the seemingly endless row of choices of sea food, plus the odd korean barbecue which in itself was a treat, was a plus.


XXX

Free MoMA!

© Joselito Briones

We got in MoMA for free. That's a big deal, me being the cheapo that I am. I wanted to go there originally this Friday, having heard that entrance feee is waived from 4pm to 8pm Fridays, but what do you know, turned out that Jens now works for a museum (albeit in Boston) and he gets in most museums for free. Company included. How he got to be a museum's resident scientist from being a nano-physicist, I can only wonder. Actually no, I did ask him. He just happens to be one of those smart people who can do plenty of different things. He's taken up bust-portraiture (clay sculpture of heads) recently with impressive results.




The food in the museum cafeteria, "Cafe 2" isn't bad at all either. I had butternut squash ravioli in a very, very rich sauce, and lentl and portobello mushroom soup, both very good. I'd have preferred the ravioli with a simpler, subtler dressing though. The price was just slightly more expensive than the numerous cafe's scattered in the city.


XXX