Brooklyn Chinatown

Phyllis and Eddie came to town so Susan and Michael invited us to dinner with Jean in Brooklyn Chinatown at this wonderful restaurant called Pacificana at 55th Street and 8th Avenue. Brooklyn, one of the City's five boroughs,  seems to this newcomer to New York, more spacious and less congested than Manhattan. Perhaps this is because the buildings don't tower over the street. This was Aunt Vida's favorite restaurant and Jean was her best friend. I feel she was there with us in spirit and would be smiling to see us all together. At the restaurant, Susan selected this wonderful menu that began with Shanghai soup dumplings.

Three bites and one slurp of pure pleasure

Three kinds of fish: deep fried, batter-fried, and steamed

Red lobster

Crispy skin chicken

Snow pea leaves

Calamari

Seafood on a bed of Chinese broccoli

Customize a photo collage

Tah-get!

You can take this girl out of Milwaukee but you can't get her out of Target... Yes, indeed, Target has come to Manhattan. In Spanish Harlem to be exact. Located at the bottom of E. 117th Street and overlooking the East River, Target is between First Avenue and FDR Drive. It is actually inside this huge structure with parking on the left and the stores on the right. Target shares the building with other stores like Old Navy. To get up there we took the C train to 116 and then took the crosstown bus going towards the East River.

There were good bargains to be had on household items. Though I hated to buy another iron (I left mine in Bangkok--no room for it in the luggage) I bought a Black and Decker iron for $16.00. It goes with my hand-held B&D mixer that I got in Canada for CDN$16.00. I love B&D! I also found a cake keeper for less than $6.00, 2 glass pie plates for $5.00, and a pastry blender for $1.00. And the silicone mat for $9.00 that I used to make a galette yesterday afternoon. Good deals! Strawberries and blueberries were cheaper than at Whole Foods so I got some.  Women's clothes aren't a bargain, nor are they well made.  The men's clothes were a good deal. AJ got a pair of Levis for $20.00 and a pair of chinos for $18.00. After I took them in for alterations at the cleaners, I sure wished I had my sewing machine. But it's in Bangkok at the back of the crawlspace. 

After shopping we took the #2 up to 125th Street and right there, at the corner of Malcolm X Blvd. is the Golden Krust, a Caribbean bakery and fast food outlet. AJ had the curry goat lunch with Kola Champagne. I had a chicken patty. Not bad. But the food at Edgevalley Way still can't be beat.

Nyam it up

The Trip to Philadelphia

This trip to Philly was marred by two events: AJ decided at the last minute not to come and Andy left his iPad in a Philly taxi.  Damn.  This was supposed to be a pleasant little side trip to visit Andy's godson Eddie and his family but things don't always turn out the way we planned it. It was also our first time on the Bolt Bus. This service charges $10.00 per person New York- Philadelphia and $12.00 per person Philadephia-New York. Why is it more expensive going back the other way? [My cousin says it's because the tolls for entering New York City are more expensive for buses.]

Pick up point @34th Street & Eighth Ave.

On Tuesday, we boarded the bus outside the Tick Tock Diner at the corner of 34th Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. We discovered to our pleasant surprise that this was a new bus equipped with WiFi. Andy and I checked mail. Richard wrote he'd invited AJ to dinner. No longer worried our offspring might starve, we settled back to watch From Paris With Love a John Travolta movie. He seems to favor playing characters like Chili Palmer in Pulp Fiction but this  is one too many repeats; this one lacked Chili's suave mayhem.  We didn't finish the movie. At the time we didn't know that this photograph would be the last one of the iPad.

The unlucky iPad

We crawled through Manhattan traffic and didn't leave the city for more than an hour. As a result we arrived in Philly an hour late. Eddie and Phyllis picked us up at JFK and North 30th Street then took us back to their house. They have a bi-coastal family, living 6 months of the year with their son in Pennsylvania and another 6 months in California with their daughter.

The House

Phyllis and Eddie

Aidan and Andy

Ethan and Vatinee with Eddie

On Wednesday Eddie, Phyllis, Andy and I went into Philadelphia to visit the Independence National Historical Park where we saw the Liberty Bell and where the Declaration of Independence was signed. I learned one thing: the Declaration wasn't signed on July 4th, 1776, the day we call Independence Day.

Independence National Historical Park

 Koko posed with the Liberty Bell.

Koko with the Liberty Bell...

...and the continental soldier

We broke for lunch. We clambered into a taxi and went for Philly Cheese Steaks. I told you I'm learning to eat beef! When we got out at Pat's that was when we discovered Andy had left his backpack with the iPad inside it in the taxi. Since our e-mail accounts were entered into the iPad, we've had to change all the passwords. Also gone for good: Andy's glasses and the cables for his iPhone and Canon camera.

Just one Philly cheesesteak is longer than Koko...

After lunch, we left messages with all the cab companies to try and find the backpack. Meanwhile, we completed our tour of the park.

Cos the guide holding forth on how the republic began

Copy of the Declaration of Independence in the room where it was drafted

That evening, Diana came to dinner. We had a good long talk and Diana brought me two books to read. She knows I spend too much time reading about teaching and learning English. Reading should be fun too. Diana promised to come and see us in New York City--I hope it will be soon. On Thursday morning, we took the Bolt Bus back to Manhattan. As usual, it was late. We waited for the bus at the intersection of JFK and North 30th Street, exactly where Eddie and Phyllis had picked us up. Here, the squat square Amtrak Station is stolidly anchored to the land, ferrying people to and fro. Whereas this glass building seems to be about to lift off.

There must be some significance to all this, but I can't think what that might be.

As the philosopher of Greenbow, Alabama once said, "S*** happens."

Flight

Diamond and Chocolate

M&M

I discovered this morning that my watch had stopped at midnight exactly. I needed a new battery, like, right now,  since we were planning to take the Bolt Bus to Philadelphia in the afternoon. I did some quick checking on the internet and found this tiny shop at 20 West 47th Street in the Diamond District. In a room no bigger than my bathroom, Mikhail changed my battery for only $8.00 in less than 5 minutes. Andy and I walked back to Times Square and found chocolate heaven: M&Ms and Hershey's right across the street from each other.

The Wedding

September 11th. For those for whom this day is a birthday or a wedding anniversary, those milestones have been overshadowed by the numbers 9/11, 8:46 a.m. It is only a date, after all, and we cannot always tiptoe around the calendar. Today, we pause to remember that terrible day nine years ago. Today, across the Hudson River, we celebrate the marriage of Andrew and Jesse. As dusk settled, from the terrace we could see the Tribute in Light on the World Trade Center site, twin beams projected into the cloudy night.

Tribute in Light ©commons.wikipedia.org

The setting sun burnished the steel and glass towers of Manhattan

Jesse and Andrew 

The groom's uncles

The groom's mother and grandfather

Andy with Patrick, the father of the groom

Christopher and his dance partner

Chelsea Morning

Aside from this reference to Joni Mitchell's song, Chelsea Market and Chelsea Piers are located on Tenth Avenue between 15th and 17th Streets. I told Andy that Chelsea Market is New York's very upscale answer to Bangkok's aw taw caw, a farmer's market near Chatuchak that sells only the freshest fruit and vegetables. It's the mecca for foodies.

Chelsea Market has a lot of competition in New York. On the weekends there are farmers' markets all over Manhattan, the best one is at Union Square. But as with everything New York, it is attitude that counts. The Market has shops that sell handmade chocolates, ice cream, and food with local ingredients.

Pickled peppers

Of course dedicated foodies are also gourmet cooks. The Bowery Kitchen Supply sells every imaginable implement including everything on this dangerous looking wall:

Knives and more

At the Chelsea Piers

This is more than a place to park a boat. Chelsea Piers bills itself as a "sports and entertainment complex." To me, it was just a nice place to go for a walk by the Hudson River.

Sitting pretty

We did find one place in New York City that surprises. We found a banh mi restaurant that wasn't half bad. Called Co Ba at the corner of 17th Street and Ninth Avenue, this tiny place served up the freshest Vietnamese sub sandwiches. The baguette was crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. If you're looking for a picture, forget it. We ate it all and left not a crumb for a picture!

Co Ba's menu

Breakfast at Metro Diner

Every morning this week since Andy's arrival, we've walked five blocks to the Metro Diner on Broadway and 100th Street for breakfast. It's not really a tradition, since we've only done it for a week, but it does bring to mind our morning southern-style breakfasts in South Carolina with Anne Marie and Sam in the summer of 2007.

The Counter

Metro serves hearty American breakfasts like pancakes and sausage. That's my favorite. I can't finish my breakfast so I usually bring back the leftovers. Then Andy and I spend the day walking off breakfast.

Prelude to breakfast

When Cousin Marcy Came to Visit New York City

Jing Fong Dim Sum

Food cart

Marcy took the Greyhound bus up from New Jersey to spend the day with us in Manhattan. She especially requested dim sum for lunch so, of course,  we went to Chinatown. We took the B train to Grand and Bowery and walked along the Bowery until we came to Jing Fong restaurant which the internet said was a good place. Eddie had said that there was a good dim sum restaurant on the Bowery that was near a bank, but he just couldn't remember the name. This one was book-ended by two banks, so it had to be good. It was also packed with Chinese (not a single farang in sight) so that was another indicator that the food was authentic. Every dish was served piping hot from steam carts.

Mickey D's

Making a point

Among all that good authentic Chinese food, McDonald's appears to be superfluous even redundant, but it is an American presence, so here it is. Looking like a Chinese temple with its red columns and curving roof, the façade reminds that this American identity is malleable. Of course, to some it is cause for resentment, a reminder of America's economic power. But here in Chinatown, it is McDonald's that is colonized. And happily so.

Monk napping

The courthouse in Federal Plaza

Laughing on the bus

We browsed around Chinatown a bit, walking down Henry Street and then Catherine Street, and buying cheap stuff for the kitchen. I found a set of melamine soup spoons and a teapot for under $10.00. We found our way back up Centre Street and Federal Plaza. Indomitable bargain hunters, we went into Lots-Less for more deals. I got an ice cream scoop and a silicone trivet for $5.00. Afterwards we still had time to spare so I suggested we go up to High Line Park. We took the #6 train to 14th Street where we got on the cross-town bus. The entrance to High Line Park is at 14th Street and Tenth Avenue. An elevator takes you from street level up to the park. Under a brilliant blue sky the park was a cool refreshing change from the hurly burly of the streets below. Here is a brief picture gallery of our day with Marcy.