NYC adventures, Day #3
This was the day we ate around the world! We headed out to Queens (I believe we ended up in Jackson Heights) on the subway, and ended up finding Jeff's brother and his girlfriend on the very platform we were waiting on for a transfer.
The morning started off with a light, sweet breakfast at a Colombian cafe (actually, I think I found it, La Nueva Bakery on Yelp and the reviews reference that it is Uruguayan). I even used my very rusty Spanish (just a word here & there) to order say thank you I wish I had taken a photo of the cakes, as this place was primarily a bakery, with amazing cakes and tortes, although we did have savory empanadas and I adored them. I loved looking into the drink cooler and seeing all sorts of brands I had not seen before. A woman asked me to help her get a straw into a milk drink. It was crowded, delicious and a very fun way to start the day.
Not soon after breakfast, we popped into an Indian restaurant down the road a couple of blocks, and the shop windows changed perceptibly with sari's and other Indian-style garb on display. We picked up a sampling of Indian desserts, and one savory one. I do think, now that I have tried several Indian desserts, that they don't really send me, as they are usually too sweet and sugary for my tastes. But the savory cauliflower snack...wow, I could have enjoyed that all day long.
Then started my mini-obsession of ducking into the local grocery store, where you can best get a sense of the surrounding area (that works even here in the US). The Indian grocery store had men in turbans seemingly guarding the entrance, and the amount of bagged rice was staggering. No boxes of Minute-Maid rice in this place.
We then took the subway over to a neighborhood where the music coming out of car windows was in Spanish, and the grocery store sported piles of jalapeno peppers. This is where the Louis Armstrong House Museum museum was - a modest home in an even more modest neighborhood, and learned about the exceptional life of the famed musician. I highly recommend going.
That afternoon we moved over to Flushing, where everyone around us was of Asian descent. There we had probably the most exceptional meal of the day at The Coop. From the chicken wings to the spam dogs to the kimchee, it was a savory snacking delight. Even though we didn't have much room after that we enjoyed bubble tea as our chewy and sweet dessert drink. When I had bubble tea for the first time in Pittsburgh, I wasn't bowled over. This time, with a bit of familiarity and a flavor I really like (chai), I am now a fan.
We also went to the New World Mall, which had the most amazing food court I have ever seen, if you would like nothing but Asian food. Every stall looked tempting and tantalizing, but we were so full all we could do was gaze around in wonder and soak it all in. Our family was the only Caucasian group of people in the entire place, which was really neat to experience. Then, of course, we stopped into the Chinese grocery store in the mall and looked for snacks. We ended up with green tea Kit Kats. While I really don't like green tea at all, (I've tried to force myself to like to for the health benefits), I do like it in desserts and this version of the Kit Kats are the best - way better than chocolate.
The evening concluded with dinner at a hot pot restaurant, which I liked - it is like a fondue restaurant but with more meat and broth. I prefer fondue personally a bit more, but I am sure there wouldn't have been a dancing panda bear at a fondue restaurant. Jeff's brother and girlfriend really gave us the grand tour, and I experienced a part of NYC that I would not have sought out, or known to, on my own. I have a sense of how getting the local perspective makes travel so much richer.
The morning started off with a light, sweet breakfast at a Colombian cafe (actually, I think I found it, La Nueva Bakery on Yelp and the reviews reference that it is Uruguayan). I even used my very rusty Spanish (just a word here & there) to order say thank you I wish I had taken a photo of the cakes, as this place was primarily a bakery, with amazing cakes and tortes, although we did have savory empanadas and I adored them. I loved looking into the drink cooler and seeing all sorts of brands I had not seen before. A woman asked me to help her get a straw into a milk drink. It was crowded, delicious and a very fun way to start the day.
Not soon after breakfast, we popped into an Indian restaurant down the road a couple of blocks, and the shop windows changed perceptibly with sari's and other Indian-style garb on display. We picked up a sampling of Indian desserts, and one savory one. I do think, now that I have tried several Indian desserts, that they don't really send me, as they are usually too sweet and sugary for my tastes. But the savory cauliflower snack...wow, I could have enjoyed that all day long.
Then started my mini-obsession of ducking into the local grocery store, where you can best get a sense of the surrounding area (that works even here in the US). The Indian grocery store had men in turbans seemingly guarding the entrance, and the amount of bagged rice was staggering. No boxes of Minute-Maid rice in this place.
We then took the subway over to a neighborhood where the music coming out of car windows was in Spanish, and the grocery store sported piles of jalapeno peppers. This is where the Louis Armstrong House Museum museum was - a modest home in an even more modest neighborhood, and learned about the exceptional life of the famed musician. I highly recommend going.
That afternoon we moved over to Flushing, where everyone around us was of Asian descent. There we had probably the most exceptional meal of the day at The Coop. From the chicken wings to the spam dogs to the kimchee, it was a savory snacking delight. Even though we didn't have much room after that we enjoyed bubble tea as our chewy and sweet dessert drink. When I had bubble tea for the first time in Pittsburgh, I wasn't bowled over. This time, with a bit of familiarity and a flavor I really like (chai), I am now a fan.
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| So much walking! |
We also went to the New World Mall, which had the most amazing food court I have ever seen, if you would like nothing but Asian food. Every stall looked tempting and tantalizing, but we were so full all we could do was gaze around in wonder and soak it all in. Our family was the only Caucasian group of people in the entire place, which was really neat to experience. Then, of course, we stopped into the Chinese grocery store in the mall and looked for snacks. We ended up with green tea Kit Kats. While I really don't like green tea at all, (I've tried to force myself to like to for the health benefits), I do like it in desserts and this version of the Kit Kats are the best - way better than chocolate.
The evening concluded with dinner at a hot pot restaurant, which I liked - it is like a fondue restaurant but with more meat and broth. I prefer fondue personally a bit more, but I am sure there wouldn't have been a dancing panda bear at a fondue restaurant. Jeff's brother and girlfriend really gave us the grand tour, and I experienced a part of NYC that I would not have sought out, or known to, on my own. I have a sense of how getting the local perspective makes travel so much richer.
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| Well said. |
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