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!