Pace of NY

I have not written an entry here in forever, and here is why. NYC is exhausting. There is lots to do but that’s not really the reason I’m exhausted. Since moving here, my husband and I have done pretty much nothing else but work. We work from home, so it is very easy to get caught up in work in your own four walls. And it makes it that much harder to meet people, since you don’t have outside contact at the office or store or wherever else people work.
Everyone else seems to be working just as hard. The saying goes “New York is a city that never sleeps” but I think I’m going to change that to “New York is a city that never rests”. There is a difference. Sleeping and resting are not the same thing. Everyone seems to be hustling here, trying to make something out of themselves. It would be easy to say that everyone is out to make a quick buck, but it is more than that. People see this as a city of opportunity and they work hard to take advantage of it. Competition here is tough and this is not a city for people who get their feelings hurt easily. This is a place where you need tough skin and a never-ending supply of energy.
This is most likely the reason why New York is a temporary place for most. You can only keep up the hectic pace of work for so long before you burn out and move on, if you are lucky enough to recognize the warning signs.
In the year that I have been here, I have worked a full-time job, written two books, started a food blog, assisted my husband with his work and gone on four trips. The rest of this year won’t be any slower. I’m wondering how long we can keep this pace up.

Summer in NY - Blah...

So it has been a while yet again and the only thing I can say is, I wish it was spring or fall or winter. Anything but the summer that has brought numerous heat waves with it, along with the lingering smell of trash in our apartment. Our living room window faces the trash bins right in front of our building. We are on the first floor so all sorts of smells float around sometimes. It's one unpleasantness we have to endure in our otherwise pretty awesome apartment. In the last few months, we've been busy working and haven't had too much time to enjoy the city but on the weekends we do make it a point to head out and do something.
We finally managed to make it to the MET and I went again last weekend when it was ridiculously hot and I was burning up at home. I could go to the MET every weekend, it is that awesome. I'm sure I've only seen a third of what they have to offer and I'm looking forward to my next visit. This last time I checked out the Egyptian exhibit and waited in line for an hour to see the Alexander McQueen fashion on display. I apprecited the clothes and costumes but the entire exhibit and compositions were a bit too freaky for me. I'm not into the whole romantic gothic look he was going for and paired with creepy music, dark lighting and moaning sounds being thrown your way from every corner, I walked through the whole thing in five minutes. It reminded me very much of that movie The Cell with JLo, if you've seen it. That movie was creepy too so if you've seen that, that's the feeling this exhibit had.
Besides the museum we've been going to the park and plopped down a few times to read and picnic. That was before the heat waves. And we got one bike (yes, two would be better) and have been riding that to Prospect Park in the mornings.
We also discovered more bakeries in Chinatown and found what we dubbed Mango with Crack, a steamed mango-flavored dumpling filled with mango mousse, covered in coconut flakes. The name says it all.
Let's see what else the summer has in store for us, other than more heat and stinky garbage.

Happy Spring

Can't believe spring is here, crazy how time flies. The weather thankfully has been warming up and even though it's still raining sometimes, it's mostly pleasant enough to go for a walk sans the jacket.
We got to know a couple of neighbors a bit more and found out that one of them is a cat sitter on the side. We are located in the most pet and kid-friendly neighborhood of Brooklyn so he takes full advantage and has been cat sitting for 20 years. Apparently one can earn a lot of money doing that since people who live in New York travel a lot. That makes sense. Let's see if my next blog entry mentions any cats or dogs for that matter.
We've been meeting new people thanks to one particular friend who painfully tries to mix everyone he knows in hopes of some merry-making. Sometimes the new people jive with us sometimes they say two words in as many hours. The funny thing is too that the people we meet are so diverse and do totally different things. For example we had dinner the other day with a radiologist who is also a pilot on the side (yes, he's got too much time). Not someone we would usually run into in SD, or maybe we would? Don't think so.
We've also seen the wedding and Middle East news along with everyone else and that's about the most TV we've watched last month. We have been going out to dinner/drinks with friends on the weekends a lot and trying new places. So far, nothing to brag about. Hoping next weekend we can finally make it to the MET which we still have never been to. Guess we have different priorities. I'll let you know if we end up there.

Warm weather activities

Today we had an actual summer day. It was over 70 degrees outside and we had the chance to munch on our usual cheese and salami snack in our yard. Yay! I'm sure that won't be so fun once the summer actually hits and everything inside and outside feels like a sauna. For now, we are enjoying the lapse into summer.
Last weekend we met a co-worker for dinner which was nice and delicious and attended a going-away party at a bar for the photographer friend. We also walked the city all day on Sunday looking for cool signage to take pictures of so Mark can use it for work reference and bought a painting from a poor schmuck painint on the street. He needed the money and we like supporting local artists.
Also had the chance to get the torturous Chinese massages again and for once even Mark thought they went too far this time. We are still sore.
Went a couple of times to the park last week as well since it's only about 10-15 minutes away from our place and it was packed. Whoever said that NY is not a place to raise a family obviously hasn't seen the gazillion families in every neighborhood and especially in the parks. I suspect in the summertime, there won't be a single green patch left to sit on. Heard that people bring their grills with them and it's a huge bbq where everyone shares. Can't wait to see that.

Stores and restaurants details

It’s April already and our days are just flying by. Not sure where, but they’re flying.

We have been making new friends, going to new places, eating new food and generally having new experiences.

Went to a Mexican restaurant yesterday (not like San Diego Mexican, more like Oaxacan Mexican) and had fried grasshoppers. Yuck. Went to a Russian birthday party over the weekend. That involved many cakes and too much booze, followed by two lazy days afterwards. We’ve been cleaning like crazy, and still staying on top of food and entertainment budgets.

Slowly we are settling into local market routine. We’re trying not to shop at just one place because of course one place specializes in something, another place in something else, etc.. Also, not sure if I mentioned this before but the grocery stores here don’t sell alcohol. There are a handful of major chains that might sell beer but that’s a rarity. We were used to going to Trader Joe’s in SD and maybe picking up a bottle of wine either for dinner or to take to a party. Can’t do that here. Here you have to look for a store that sells only alcohol, and I’m not talking about a liquor store. It’s an actual fancy store that has all sorts of booze. Some even have beer or wine tastings to round out the shopping experience. It’s really kind of weird.

Also, the grocery stores don’t stay open late and we are so used to picking up something at Ralphs late night (if a midnight snack is in order). Here you’re out of luck past 8 or 9pm. Thought in NY out of all places stores would stay open late but guess we were wrong.

Hm, let’s see what else about stores since I’m on the subject… Guess this is not related to stores but restaurants. A lot of places are mom and pop establishments and don’t accept credit cards. This is something that drives us nuts because we go out to eat every weekend and have to first make a dash to the ATM. That’s not a big deal but then the ATM fees pile up. That’s a real hassle. Keep that in mind if you come visit.

That’s it for our store/restaurant information. I’m sure we’ll have plenty more to share with you soon.

Fancy Going-Ons

These last two or three weeks have been so busy, they kind of just blur together. After taking it somewhat easy after our move to Brooklyn, we decided it was time to mingle with the locals. We’ve been out every weekend, coming back in the wee hours (and sleeping half the day away afterwards), made it a point to go to the city more (Manhattan) and had two photo shoots in our apartment in one week. A friend of a friend is a photographer and needed a place to shoot so we offered our pad since it’s not very furnished. She liked it the first time and came back again. She took photos of some small-time actresses who were very nice and we got to check out hair and make-up trickery too. I could use some of that trickery myself.

We’ve discovered some more yummy places to eat and even found a German beer garden (indoors) that serves legit German food. We didn’t have any food there since we just came from a different dinner spot but it’s next on my list.

Also got to see Travis Barker perform live in the city which was really cool. It was a short show and the venue was small but we had a great time. Went to a bar beforehand and a restaurant afterwards (3am). Jeez, I’m exhausted just writing this.

Other than that, during the week we work a lot and are hermits at home. Trying to cook all meals at home and only go out on the weekends, otherwise we’ll go broke.

We finally stopped buying stuff for the house so we can relax a bit now and not worry about going furniture shopping once again. Next on the home agenda might be hanging photos, which can take forever. We’ll see, maybe they’ll be up by the time we have our first visitor.

Chinatown

You might have heard that NY has a Chinatown too, just like San Francisco. I had heard that the one in Frisco is bigger and better but after having seen both, I beg to differ.

We went to the one here yesterday again and had the chance to check out markets, vendors, eat Dim Sum and even get massages. We went with a friend of ours who recommended the massage place. All three of us walked in and got an appointment for an hour later so we walked through alleys and markets for an hour.

It is unbelievable what you can find there. Everything from fresh produce, dried herbs and vegetables, fresh, fresh, fresh fish (and frogs), lots of bakeries and shops where you can buy Asian imports and all sorts of cookery gadgets. I was in heaven and wish we’d had more time to explore. This is one of those things I have to do by myself though, not everyone shares my enthusiasm for woks and dried mushroom varieties….

Our massages were much needed and not relaxing. Not sure how many times any of you have gotten massages but I always think of them belonging in two different categories. You either get a relaxing spa massage (with oils, soothing music and maybe even those hot river stones) or you get the therapeutic S&M massage (torturous pulling, kneading, cracking and smacking). We got the second one of course since we were in Chinatown. Come on, I don’t think you’ll ever get a relaxing spa massage in Chinatown or in China for that matter. They’re all about pressure points, acupressure, acupuncture, reflexology, etc.. The great thing was that all three of us came out of there loose and unknotted. The prices cannot be beat. For an entire hour we each paid $40 (and we tipped $10 each). That was their maximum price on any of their services. They also do all the things mentioned above (acupressure, etc.) and I’ll definitely be back for acupuncture. Hoping that once we are done buying furniture and paying off some stuff, we can go there at least once or twice a month. With all the stress, it’s nice to do something to unwind.

Here are some pictures we took while walking around.

Yes, for eating