Cincinnati

I was in Cincinnati last spring. Cincinnati, Ohio is a sleepy town in the sense that everything closes at 5pm and the town is suddenly very very quiet. There were some stores that were permanently closed and looks like a semi ghost town in certain parts. Nothing much to see but I like it that Cinncinati is a small town that we can walk around on foot. But the city is quiet after 5pm as most people live in the suburbs. Leaving us tourists and visitors in town.

Cincinnati

 

 



Carew Tower - the second tallest building in Cincinnati with its French Art deco architecture



 

Street art anywhere

 

 

Fountain Square in Cincinnati



People gathering for free concert during spring


 

The Paul Brown Stadium which houses the football team Cincinnati Bengal

Side view of the Paul Brown Stadium

 

View of bridge crossing to Kentucky. I have a thing for bridges. We crossed the bridge across to Kentucky and went round the town for a bit. But we were creeped out because it was more like a dead town so we crossed back in by tram.

 

Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame



 

Cincinnati Ball Park - home of the Reds team

Vegetarian chili with black beans was delicious and filing!

Greeter inside the hotel elevator

First a nose

Then an ear. Oh dear what could it be??

It was just art on the shower stall wall. creepy, but cool. I stayed at the 21c Museum Hotel in Cincinnati, that's why there is artwork everywhere even in the shower!

Artwork in the National Underground Railroad Museum. This was a museum dedicated to black slave history and the movements by some people who helped shelter the slaves from their master

Actual slave house exhibited in this museum

 

Carlo's Bakery, Hoboken, NJ

Anyone a fan of the Big Boss cake show? The show where Buddy Valastro created different kinds of fancy fondant cakes for their clients.

They are an Italian bakery family originated from Hoboken, New Jersey. The original shop was started by Buddy's father, called Carlo's Bake Shop. It still stand in Hoboken till this day, even though Buddy opened another shop in

Store front of Carlos Bake Shop

Different kinds of Italian bakery goods. Their signature was the Lobster tail - a lightly sugar dusted crunchy pastry on the outside with soft custard filling inside. Then of course the cannoli - my fave was that chocolate covered cannoli with custard filling 

some of the cakes in the store. They also had some signed copies of Buddy's book which contains his recipes, chef's uniform, mugs etc

We were there at 7am with the Dato' Rohani Abdul Karim, Minister of Women Affairs during the UN General Assembly back in Oct 2013

Good coffee from Carlo's

Buddy's café is called the Cake Boss Café at Port Authority Bus Terminal near Times Square

Snow Day: Winter Snow Juno

Delayed posting. But this was during Winter Storm Juno last week on Jan 26. We were bracing for very bad weather and thick snow storm about 18inches high (almost 2 feet!). Juno was said to be the worst winter storm since 3 years ago. We were released early around 3pm on the day before the storm as it will start that night itself on Jan 26 and to continue till Jan 26, 2015. People needed to buy food supplies such as bread, eggs, milk to prepare to be holed up at home, kids would be out of school, we need to prep the house before the storm comes - just shoveling snow and putting salt on the sidewalk so it won't be icy underneath all that snow.



So this is me on Jan 26 and I just reached home. Had to stop buy the store to buy some eggs because we were out! My face was burning from the cold and my cheeks were hurting because the snow was coarse and felt like little stones hitting me. My coat was all covered in snow. But still had to pose before I go into the house

Winter wonderland. Snow covered trees



Which was actually in my backyard

the aftermath in the morning

Front of the house. The Hubs shoveled snow for the pathway

again my backyard and the garage was covered with a white blanket

Snow wasn't that thick after all, less than 10 inches definitely

Perspective from below. when snow piled up it looked like a mountain of snow

We had a nice snow day on Jan 27. Weather wasn't that cold when snow was falling but it got colder the next day. So it was nice to be at home with a hot drink or soup

A Day in the UN

This was way back in October 2013 when I became the Liaison Officer for the visiting Minster of Women Affairs to New York during the United Nations General Assembly. The assembly in 2013 had to be done in another UN building as the UN General Assembly Hall was under renovation

 

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon opening the session on Women's issue

Stevie Wonder was the guest of honour for this session. He was witty and funny and of course he had to sing something in
a capella. In short, we loved it!

Close up of Stevie Wonder. In case you are wondering, the lady in the box was a sign language person.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was also there to deliver his speech

I had my face in the screen!! Because the Minister was speaking next to me and the camera was on me instead of her. I had to control macho for what seemed and eternity but was probably only a couple of minutes!

The UN building - view from the park overlooking the east river

View from the UN park overlooking the east river and the Queensboro Bridge aka Ed Koch bridge

River patrol, security was tight throughout the UN General Assembly. If Obama was in town, helicopters would be busy around the UNb uilding

View of the park

C'est moi overlooking the UN building. a nice UN delegate helped me to take this picture

Part of the Berlin wall on display here

The café was cool they even had halal food on the menu

This was taken Oct 2014 in the proper UN General Assembly Hall. This hall was under renovation in 2013, thus the pictures above was taken at the temporary hall