Red, White and Tippsy

I had so many stomach-churning moments at work this week that Friday couldn't come any sooner. For date night, S and I took the F to Carroll Gardens for dinner at Nightingale 9. We both love Vietnamese - in fact our first date, 9 years ago was at a Vietnamese restaurant. So while we anticipated Nightingale 9 to be less than authentic, we didn't quite expect to add chili sauce to every dish to bring about any sense of flavour. The only respite was a caramelised pork belly dish served with sticky rice - we licked that bowl clean!

The night was young so we walked up the street to the JakeWalk. This place confirmed the reasons I like Brooklyn so much. There are no grand gestures and fancy gimmicks like you see regularly in Manhattan. The JakeWalk has very simple decor and comes across a bit dive-y, but behind all that simplicity lay some seriously good cocktails. I particularly loved the namesake - who knew rum and tequila went so well? Word of warning: the tipple here is boozier than normal. Thank goodness for the stomach-lining properties of the fatty pork belly devoured shortly before!

Witchery Australia top, Zara pleated skirt (sim but pricey), necklace from a boutique in the Marais, Chanel flap in Navy

While my top and skirt are from the archives, I added a couple of new pieces to my summer accessories arsenal:  these fun, sparkly sandals - the Tippsy by Steve Madden - are a significantly less expensive alternative to the Lilian by J Crew; and a new nose-ring I picked up from a jeweler in Kuala Lumpur. It's a little in-your-face (ha!) for corporate America, but I am pulling the race card on this one and hope to never need to take it off! 

Steve Madden Tippsy glitter Sandals

Have a nice weekend everyone - and to those celebrating Pride, have lots of fun and stay safe!