Friday, January 21, 2005
New York Moments - II
01/07/2004 - 01/10/2004
Stepped out of the house and had my first snow-fall experience.
No, not that! I've seen snow falling before, but this was the first
time I slipped and fell in the snow. Ouch.
And of course, the first time I had to do the scrape-snow-off-the-windshield
routine...
Looking for this audio cable, walked into an electronics store. The salesman,
a middle-eastern guy, asked for $20, then reduced it to 15 (Oh, you're
Hindu!), then to 10 (Oh, you're a student). I wasn't still happy, so we
politely said 'f*** you' to each other (literally) and parted ways.
Got to eat a real Russian dinner on Staten Island that evening. Awesome!
IPod: NYC's obsessed with that little toy. White earbuds abound whereever
your eyes wander, and everyone's into customizing their iPod with it's
own little cover and accessories. Coming to think of it, makes a whole
lot of sense in this city, where everyone's trying to detach themselves
from the next person,establishing personal space and so forth. The iPod
provides yet another means of communicating: 'No, I am NOT interested
in talking to you!'
2nd attempt at sushi turned out much more encouraging. The rolls even
resembled the real thing, albeit remotely. Time to try some fillings
in there!
Movies:
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind: Goooooood movie. Looked even better
second time around. One of those movies that make you think, really. And
contemplate. And get something different out of it depending on your state
of mind.
Coffee and Cigarettes: Wierd wierd movie by Jim Jarmusch. Short skits
revolving around (surprise surprise) coffee and cigarette situations.
Famous actors playing cameos of themselves. Great movie for a hangover
on a rainy gloomy Sat morning.
Eating cheap in NYC:
While it's ridiculously easy to spend money on food in NY
I could probably write a book on eating out parsimoniously
for < $10 a day, and that would include breakfast/lunch/dinner :)
And gooooood food. let's look at the options:
1) Breakfast: Forget starbucks. Have a warm coffee (or tea/decaf
if you are so inclined), with a (low-carb) bagel with (low-fat)
spread all for $1.00 ($1.50 at most!). Join the snaking queue
at any of the little street trolleys which spontaneously spring
up all over at breakfast time.
2) Lunch/dinner:
a) Any of the street vendors peddling gyros/shwarma/kababs
in a sandwich ($3) or on rice($4-$5).
b) Pizza : $1.50 - $2.50 a slice. Thin-crust, lighter cheese than
Houston, it does not leave you feeling like an exploding grenade.
c) Lots and lots of $4-$5 lunch specials.
d) A sandwich at Mamoun's Falafel near NYU $2. The best
falafel in the worrrrrld!!! And add a LARGE juicy gorgeous
mmmmmmmmmm baklava for $1.
e) Dumpling platters in Chinatown for $2-$3.
f) A vietnamese sandwich (Banh mi)in chinatown for $2.
g) Kosher delis/pastry shops in the jewish areas on the
lower east side. An eclectic area with jewish/mexican/
italian/middle-eastern immigrants. Also known as the
'Bargain district'. So it is cheap!
h) Try cooking yourself. If you have kitchen space, that is.
These are only a sampling of the numerous hole-in-the-wall
places with cheap delicacies that NYC has to offer. Stay out
of the touristy areas (between 4th and 7th Avenues) and explore
the fringes (1-3 Avenue or 8-9 avenue), chinatown, lower east,
harlem, and you are bound to run into more culinary delights!
Chinese textbook in subway
Taking a subway across town, and getting bored. Took my Chinese
textbook with the intention of catching up on missed classes this
sem. An old old little chinese man across the aisle, starts squinting at
me strangely. After a while, gets up, totters across, peers into
my textbook until his nose nearly touches it and looks up at me
bewildered, as if searching for any Chinese characteristics in my face.
Apparently he did not find any, for he just walked back to his seat
shaking his head. I was so tickled I could not even get the obligatory
'Ni Hao' out!
Stepped out of the house and had my first snow-fall experience.
No, not that! I've seen snow falling before, but this was the first
time I slipped and fell in the snow. Ouch.
And of course, the first time I had to do the scrape-snow-off-the-windshield
routine...
Looking for this audio cable, walked into an electronics store. The salesman,
a middle-eastern guy, asked for $20, then reduced it to 15 (Oh, you're
Hindu!), then to 10 (Oh, you're a student). I wasn't still happy, so we
politely said 'f*** you' to each other (literally) and parted ways.
Got to eat a real Russian dinner on Staten Island that evening. Awesome!
IPod: NYC's obsessed with that little toy. White earbuds abound whereever
your eyes wander, and everyone's into customizing their iPod with it's
own little cover and accessories. Coming to think of it, makes a whole
lot of sense in this city, where everyone's trying to detach themselves
from the next person,establishing personal space and so forth. The iPod
provides yet another means of communicating: 'No, I am NOT interested
in talking to you!'
2nd attempt at sushi turned out much more encouraging. The rolls even
resembled the real thing, albeit remotely. Time to try some fillings
in there!
Movies:
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind: Goooooood movie. Looked even better
second time around. One of those movies that make you think, really. And
contemplate. And get something different out of it depending on your state
of mind.
Coffee and Cigarettes: Wierd wierd movie by Jim Jarmusch. Short skits
revolving around (surprise surprise) coffee and cigarette situations.
Famous actors playing cameos of themselves. Great movie for a hangover
on a rainy gloomy Sat morning.
Eating cheap in NYC:
While it's ridiculously easy to spend money on food in NY
I could probably write a book on eating out parsimoniously
for < $10 a day, and that would include breakfast/lunch/dinner :)
And gooooood food. let's look at the options:
1) Breakfast: Forget starbucks. Have a warm coffee (or tea/decaf
if you are so inclined), with a (low-carb) bagel with (low-fat)
spread all for $1.00 ($1.50 at most!). Join the snaking queue
at any of the little street trolleys which spontaneously spring
up all over at breakfast time.
2) Lunch/dinner:
a) Any of the street vendors peddling gyros/shwarma/kababs
in a sandwich ($3) or on rice($4-$5).
b) Pizza : $1.50 - $2.50 a slice. Thin-crust, lighter cheese than
Houston, it does not leave you feeling like an exploding grenade.
c) Lots and lots of $4-$5 lunch specials.
d) A sandwich at Mamoun's Falafel near NYU $2. The best
falafel in the worrrrrld!!! And add a LARGE juicy gorgeous
mmmmmmmmmm baklava for $1.
e) Dumpling platters in Chinatown for $2-$3.
f) A vietnamese sandwich (Banh mi)in chinatown for $2.
g) Kosher delis/pastry shops in the jewish areas on the
lower east side. An eclectic area with jewish/mexican/
italian/middle-eastern immigrants. Also known as the
'Bargain district'. So it is cheap!
h) Try cooking yourself. If you have kitchen space, that is.
These are only a sampling of the numerous hole-in-the-wall
places with cheap delicacies that NYC has to offer. Stay out
of the touristy areas (between 4th and 7th Avenues) and explore
the fringes (1-3 Avenue or 8-9 avenue), chinatown, lower east,
harlem, and you are bound to run into more culinary delights!
Chinese textbook in subway
Taking a subway across town, and getting bored. Took my Chinese
textbook with the intention of catching up on missed classes this
sem. An old old little chinese man across the aisle, starts squinting at
me strangely. After a while, gets up, totters across, peers into
my textbook until his nose nearly touches it and looks up at me
bewildered, as if searching for any Chinese characteristics in my face.
Apparently he did not find any, for he just walked back to his seat
shaking his head. I was so tickled I could not even get the obligatory
'Ni Hao' out!
# posted by technophobicgeek @ 5:56 AM 
