Twinkle By Wenlan

People at the office might not believe it, but I cook. It first started as an economic necessity but evolved into something that I actually enjoy doing. When I moved to New York last September, I lived in a hostel for a month to look for apartments. I had to eat fast food and take-out all the time. That was the time I realized that cooking at home is a/ cheaper b/ healthier and c/ definitely more fun!

Probably the hardest part for me deciding what to cook. If you are faced with a similar dilemma, I have some culinary ideas to share!

Garlic Trout

Trout Fillet (1 or 2 per person)

Butter (knob)

Pepper

Caraway seed

Potatoes (as much as you will eat)

Water for the potatoes

Potato peeler

Start by boiling water with a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of caraway seed. Peel the potatoes, cut them into pieces of equal size (so that they don’t end up over-cooked on the outside and raw inside) and add them to the boiling water. They should be ready in about 15 minutes – you can see if they’re ready by poking them with a fork. If they are still hard, leave them to boil some more. If they are soft pour the water out and serve them.

While your potatoes are boiling, peel the garlic and chop it into small pieces. Put the butter on a pan over medium heat and leave to melt. Than add the chopped garlic and fry for about 30 seconds. Salt the fish from both sides and place it on the frying pan. Fry for about 5 minutes on each side. Don’t turn your gas all the way up because then the fish will be burnt and raw on the inside. If you’re unsure about the trout being done, take one fillet out of the pan and cut it across in the thickest place and peek inside if it’s ready. If not, just leave it sizzling for a longer time.

To enhance your cooking experience, I recommend stuffing you mouth full of peanuts while cooking and drinking a nice cold white wine to relax.

It has been very hot and humid for the past few days.

So, I had some trouble falling asleep.

When the AC didn’t help, I decided to play some music from The Smiths and Bright Eyes.

And, oh boy! What a hypnotic! I passed out right after listening first 2 songs.

The smooth acoustic background works better than a mom’s lullaby.

“Strangeways, Here We Come” by The Smiths

“Digital Ash in a Digital Urn” by Bright Eyes

Perhaps, in light of the incessant snack eating and number of Izzes that have inundated our office, the Twinkle team may have put on a little extra weight. We would like to attribute the tightness of our clothes to laundry shrinkage and the fact that factories may be grading the garments a tad bit smaller during production nowadays– But, sadly, we can no longer live that lie.

Faced with this harsh reality, we approached the terribly dreaded mailroom scale. Indeed, we all put on extra “office” weight. So, the Twinkle team decided to start the BIGGEST LOSER challenge. With Wenlan fronting the prize of a brand new designer handbag for the “BIGGEST LOSER,” we were all motivated… well, at least for the first couple days. Staff members took different routes from a 30-day Bikram Yoga challenge, to skipping meals, enlisting the help of Billy Blanks Tae-Bo, to eating only healthy food. Sadly, majority of us have no will power and have utterly failed, but some of us like to believe that the challenge is still on. So, we will have to see who wins this challenge at the end of the month!

(The winner of the “BIGGEST LOSER” challenge will be posted in next month’s update)

Above: Leon and Annie getting ready to exterminate the office. Actually, they were just painting the bathroom. After we finished dyeing 25 pairs of umbre tights for fashion show, our bathroom looked like Jackson Pollack might have had work in there for a year.

 

Yuki Sekiya - Graphic Designer

Don’t believe everything you see… Contrary to the myth, not everyone in the fashion world starves themselves. Here, at Twinkle, food is a BIG deal.

Unarguably, lunch time is the happiest time for me. Yet, every day I am confronted with the same question, “Where do I go for lunch?” Since our location is 38 and 8th, it’s very hard for us to find nice place to eat. At the same time, there are a lot of different places to eat. Therefore, my colleagues and I have narrowed it down to the following spots:

Amici: The grilled cheese and fries are very good.

Starbucks: Gotta have my fix!

Dunkin Donuts: Why do they call it box of Joe?

NYC fried chicken: The greasy fingers are a minus

Village 38: Same as Amici’s but the line is shorter.

Chef Yu: Asian fusion.

Pret a manager: When I want to treat myself to a fancy picnic-style lunch.

Zaiya: Only for those special days because it’s so far.

 

Above: Yuki refuses to take a picture. But, aren’t her slippers so cute?

 

Joanna Song - Assistant Designer

Twinkle Staff picks:

Favorite Artist of the moment : Tegan and Sara

Favorite Quicky Lunch Spot: Pret a Manager

Favorite office snack: M & M’s plain

Favorite carrier and mailman - DAVE from UPS

Favorite magazine: Vogue (US, Italy)

Best way to unwind after a long days work: Sweat it out at Bikram NYC

Best part of the Twinkle Studio: The AMAZING Staff and hard working interns, Milan -the office French bull dog, and of course the endless supply of snacks that inundate our office.

Most Memorable Moment: The sheer joy of finishing a successful fashion show-more specifically Fall 2008’s show after consecutive late nights and small bumps along the way it turned out amazing - felt like giving BIRTH.

Most Stressful Moment: Fall 2008 show prep - waiting nervously for our show shoes to arrive and making backup shoes and embellishing them through the late night - our multitalented design team created a customized TWINKLE shoe*. Just call us GEPETTO.

Looking forward to: Having the clothes produced so we can finally wear them. Another amazing season and show and of course the infamously enjoyable Twinkle After-show party.

Most thankful for: Hardworking and always enjoyable Twinkle Interns that have become like family.

*Not available anywhere else but Twinkle

  

Dave with a copy of Italian Vogue

 

Sayumi Namba - Assistant Designer

 I believe that my desk is located in the best part of our office. If I kick the floor, slide my chair a little bit towards the back, I can reach a copier. Another kick and I’m back to my desk. Isn’t it brilliant? I can amuse myself a bit, while making the laziest effort to reach the copier.

 

 

Eva Kasprikova - Administrative Assistant

When I went to interview for my job at Twinkle I was acutely aware of the fact that I was going to a fashion design studio. I agonized over my appearance only to find the studio full of people casually dressed in jeans and trendy tops. Amongst the funky fashion taste in the office, my formal black pants and crisp white shirt seemed strangely out of place.

 In the beginning, I got the opportunity to come in for a couple of days as an intern. My first task was to sort buttons according to size and color into different boxes. I recall bitterly saying to myself: “Several years of studying university level abstract math – and I am counting buttons?” But, I stuck to it and was accepted as a full-time Twinkle employee within a few days. Needless to say, my duties have changed and increased with time considerably.

 Over the five months that I have worked here, I am glad to have become a part of the Twinkle Team. When standing in the back row of the Fall 2008 fashion show in March, I burst with pride when reminded of the fact that my company has achieved all this. I reflected on my first day and smiled. 

Me and my desk

Karina Peng - Operations Manager

 As my due date was approaching, Wenlan kindly decided to throw me a surprise party before my maternity leave. So she and my co-workers secretly schemed behind my back and also teamed up with my husband Jamie to make it absolutely perfect.

 A couple days before the event, I randomly picked phone call from The Merchant,  restaurant in the city, asking for Leon who works at our pr dept.

“He’s not here, can I take a message?” I responded,

Sure! I’m calling to confirm the reservation for his party for 15 people.”

 As I quickly took down the information, I felt that there was something strange going on, since I wasn’t aware of any upcoming Twinkle events.

After a couple days had passed, in the end of the day neared, however, people started to leave the office around the same time, a bit earlier than usual…and that is when I began to notice some odd behaviors.

 First, Leon fled the office mentioning that he has to take off for school and Ms. Huang, our sample maker, who is NOT a 45 year student ran after him asking whether she could go along with him. (I thought that was weird but still had no clue as to what was going on). Then, two more of my colleagues on the design team, Lily and Joanna, walked out without even saying goodbye. Finally, Wenlan was the last one to leave (it was only around 7pm, which is rather early for her). As she packed her stuff and prepared to leave, she said:

“Go home early, Karina. Don’t work too hard.” At this point, I knew something was wrong….Wenlan is always the last to leave!

 A short while later, Jamie called and asked if I was ready to go grab a bite to eat. Once I got downstairs and into the car, Jamie looked at me and said:

“My friend told me there’s a restaurant downtown that has great burgers, do you want to go?”

 “Sure! What’s the name of the place?” I replied

 “The Merchant restaurant….”

 Jamie, completely caught off guard, we just both burst into laughter.

 At the end of the day, although it was not the “surprise” party they had originally planned, it was still a fabulous party and the best send-off I could’ve every asked for.

 

2 months after the party, I’m back to work, joined by my new assistant Eva at twinkle.

Yuki, Jamie (my husband), Me, Joanna and Ms. Huang

 

Leon Yuan - International PR/Marketing

Fashion week is the most hectic period of the year.

The fact that it took months of preparation works, the 20 minutes show just seems not long enough. I remember that crazy 3 weeks before the show, I was trying to recover from my trip to Asia. And everyone thought I had Sars when I came back with a pollution mask on.

For more than a week, I had a hard time recovering from the bad flu. And, for an entire week, my interns had to speak to the sponsors of the show on my behalf. The planning of gift bags, judging all the top models in the city for the show, arranging schedules and meeting all the deadlines, trying very hard to make the show and after-party all translate into stress. My job is to make sure everything run as smooth and trouble-less as much as possible. Unfortunately, as always, there are always unexpected problems that occur.

As the show began, I felt a huge relief from all the prior-show stress. Despite all the obstacles that happened front-house and backstage, I remained calm and relaxed. In the end, this is probably the best way to solve all the problems.

The after-party was the best way to relax- for Wenlan and design department perhaps but not for me.  Fortunately, I had a great team of intern to make the party even fun for me!