January 2021

Super Bowl Sunday! What a perfect time to get caught up on the ol’ blog.

January 9: My local library hasn’t reopened yet, so every few weeks I hike over to the Francis Martin branch in the Bronx to see what I have to pick up. It’s a nice walk and the Bronx is like the last mystery remaining for Manhattanites, so I like learning a little something more about that borough with each trip. To get there I take the elevator downstairs, walk along 207th street, across a bridge, down a residential street, take some stairs up through a forest, walk past Bronx Community College, and there I am. The book I was headed over to pick up turned out to be a LOT bigger than I expected. Glad I brought my big backpack with me. On my way back from the Bronx I walked down to Dyckman street to look at the housing projects where Karim Abdul Jabar grew up.

January 16: Another Saturday, another outing! This time I went down to the Lower East Side to eat a few things and walk through Chinatown, Little Italy, Nolita, Soho, etc. So many people were out and there were lines EVERYWHERE!

a line at Russ & Daughters

a line at Katz’s

A line at Oh K-Dog (one of the places I wanted to eat)

there was no line at Evil Katsu because I got there right when it opened. I loved my katsu sandwich and they let me use their bathroom! What a place.

Went into the new Essex Market for a look. Really looks like quite the food hall!

in Chinatown I went to this very nice show of giant paintings by Jake McCord, a fine outside artist

in Chinatown they’re hanging up ducks

and Pokemons!

copped a grail (as they say) from the Hong Kong Supermarket basement

used to live here

vegan Italian deli on Mulberry. Smelled great!

this used to be a parking garage

a line for Prince Street Pizza

clever

Musket Room has a food truck of sorts and I got a cookie

the biggest line I saw that day was outside REI

January 24: Big night! Thanks to Kristen and Cory, I did the Paqui One Chip Challenge over Zoom. The next day people were telling me: “Wow, it didn’t seem to phase you at all!” and to that I say “No, believe me, I was quite phased.” It really, really felt like there was a fire in my mouth. But I toughed it out and only drank chocolate milk in victory, but not for relief.

January 25: One more outing! I found myself in East Harlem for the first time in three years. While the primary purpose of my trip was foiled, I was able to check on some things and, frankly, I should’ve visited longer and checked on even more things!

I used to live here.

My chicken neighbors had already called it a night.

Before I moved there a whole building blew up because of a gas leak and that’s why my brand new apartment building that I moved into only had electricity.

For years and years and years I have counted on this truck for very nice Tortas Cubanas

Whole dang country has gone birria crazy but you know what? Birria is good!

New Year, New Train Station

I celebrated the new year by visiting Moynihan Hall, the new Penn Station expansion inside the big post office on Saturday. Do not be deceived by the deceptive first photo, I actually entered via the Penn Station 8th avenue subway platform.

I found the expansion to be: well lit, clean, nice to look at. It seems it is all for Amtrak trains, so I don’t know how often I’ll be in there except perhaps to visit its fairly-decent looking future food hall lineup.

Taking advantage of the location, I walked over to Hudson Yards and then down the old Highline to enjoy lunch from Los Mariscos. Hard to say if I’ve missed their fish taco, ceviche tostada, or the cacahuate salsa most.

All I Want for Christmas is Zoo

My big idea for Covid Chrismas was to spend that morning at the Central Park Zoo BUT Christmas itself was very windy and rainy, so I went down to the zoo on the 26th instead. I got there right when it opened. It is not a big zoo, and even smaller when a few animals weren’t out while I was there. If the Lincoln Park Zoo can be free, I think the Central Park Zoo should be free, too. Anyway. Glad I went, glad I brought my 90mm lens. They have two extremely lively red pandas there and some very big snow leopards and a very stinky penguin house. And there’s a very cool great big snow monkey habitat…too bad only two monkeys were out enjoying it on this visit. Oh! And there’s a decent children’s zoo that even adults can go into. The sheeps and goats love those pellets!

Post zoo I did some park walking, saw that the Trumps have a bench? Wonder if they’ll spend much time sitting there come late January. Went and found the part of the fence with the leopards on the other side of it. Then I did midtown walking and wound up at Tacos No 1 for the first time since … I mean who even knows. May have been more than a year? Hadn’t had a taco that hit so nice in a while.