Christmas Party!

This week was possibly the best week ever (even though I write that every week, this time I really mean it). I only went to New Jersey on Monday (and worked in NY the rest of the week), I went out to dinner with Jen and Leena in K-town (and had kimchi chigae every other day the entire week), my company hosted our annual holiday party, AND my office is closed until January 2nd, so I’m home in North Carolina.

Since I worked from NY during the week, I was able to keep better hours and I met up with Jen and Leena for dinner on Tuesday night. (Did I mention that I had dinner by myself for the first time…EVER? I felt so…grownup). I’m going to start making my own food because I recently acquired a rice cooker and Jen (who’s Korean) taught me how to make kimchi chigae, the dish I usually order when I go to K-town. (It used to be bibimbop, but Angie, my ex-roommate, brought kimchi chigae back one time and I’ve been in love ever since). The recipe seems pretty easy and the most important thing is the kimchi (which you can buy in any Korean store), then the red sauce is what adds the spice/taste, and then you add pork and that’s about it. Not too bad! Once I move out in February, I’ll make it (or so I say, now).

On Thursday, a bunch of the new hires and seniors met up with our partners for a meeting about our overall strategy for the year/happy hour. Our meeting started at 3PM (when we started drinking) and continued until around 2AM, when our holiday party ended. This year, our holiday party was held at Cipriani’s:

The place is amazing! It has 65-ft ceilings and it was decorated really beautifully for our event. Also, when you walked in, servers greeted you with bellinis (the most amazing drink ever - peach puree with Prosecco and champagne) and directed you to the huge assortment of sushi, appetizers, meat, jumbo shrimp, etc. There were five bars (at least) set up around Cipriani’s and lots of areas for food - my favorite was definitely the sushi rolls (although the Cipriani roll, which is a roll that’s deep-fried, was extremely heavy and not good). David lent me his sister’s camera for the night because I REALLY wanted to take pictures of the event (but…when don’t I want to take pictures?) She has a Sony cybershot and the initial pictures turned out like this:

umm…SLOW SHUTTER SPEED, anyone? I am still looking for a new camera, but I think I’m going to stick with Canon. Once you get a Canon, you really can’t go with anything else (I tried Nikon, Lumix, and Sony…and they all don’t even COMPARE to Canon’s quality). A lot of the pictures turned out the same way (SAD!) BUT, I did get some good pictures from the night:

A little better, but the background is still really fuzzy,

The best picture from the night (my favorite, at least).

Dinner was buffet style and the penne pasta wasn’t cooked, but if it had been, it would’ve been really good (the marinara sauce was delish). They also made veal ravioli (there wasn’t any taste) and steak (which was the best choice from the buffet). The dessert table was AMAZING - tiramisu, dark chocolate cake, cheesecake, fruit tarts, gingerbread cookies, sorbet with fresh fruit, ice cream, and SO many other options! I wish I took pictures of the food, but the camera had a low battery, so I only took pictures of people (mostly me).

I’m not sure what the theme for the night was, but there were appearances by Austin Powers, Madonna, and one other look-a-like. They announced the winners of the raffles (which included at $250 gift certificate to a nice restaurant in NYC, 2 tickets to any Broadway show, and other food certificates). The party was really fun and it was really great seeing everyone at the event (especially since so many people travel all the time and never have the opportunity to go to the office). John Kim, my peer buddy, flew in for the event and I haven’t seen him since I started, so it was really nice running into him:

After our holiday party, almost everyone headed to Bogarts (39th and Park) for an after party. Audrey, David, and I decided to take funny pictures:

1. Disgruntled Youth:

2. A normal picture:

3. Fresh off the boat:

4. We’re scared…of David the…hamster?

5. We’re thinking…but David already had his lightbulb moment:

6. Me and my girlfriend, Audrey (Sorry Nai, she’s MINE!):

The night was amazingly fun and I had a great time - what a great way to end the year! Now I’m back in North Carolina spending time with my mom and brother - and I’m not heading back to New York until NEXT YEAR! When I get back to New York, I have to start looking for a new apartment (if you have any suggestions, please let me know). Happy holidays, everyone!