The public transit is supposed to be great in New York. Well, I suppose it is great, it covers a wide area, runs frequently, and runs all night. Sometimes, however, it makes Caltrain look good.
This weekend, Greta and I went to Manhattan to buy some furniture. The first problem was getting in, my great E and F lines which are supposed to be express on weekends, were local, so it took about 10 or 15 minutes longer than it should have to get into Manhattan. But the real problem was on the way back. I got on an R line, which strangely stopped at Queen's Plaza at which point the conductor told everyone to get off and get on the next train.
So we get off and wait, and about 10 minutes later, a train shows up. We get on the train, and there is no room to sit (not unusual). The train starts to move, and of course it is local, not express. It moves very slowly, I could probably run faster than it. It stops unexpected for about five minutes in the middle of the tunnel. The conductor has a mumbly sort of announcement about "congestion on the tracks". What congestion? There wasn't any other train before this one for 10 minutes. How the hell could there be congestion? So, the train proceeds like this, either very slow, or stopped completely, for about 6 or 7 stations. Even though it's not that bad, the train starts feeling crowded and uncomfortable. At about the third stop after we get on this train, someone on our car starts vomiting uncontrollably, vomiting a curious green color. We just stand there and try and think pleasant thoughts, but we know we must have entered what must be transit hell. Eventually, the speed picks up again and we eventually reach our destination, about an hour and a half later. It should have taken half an hour.
That kind of thing never happened on Caltrain, not even when there was an earthquake while I was riding. Maybe next time I'll take the Long Island Railroad, which only takes fifteen minutes to get into Manhattan (but is more expensive).
I just got internet connection a few days ago, so now I can take a moment and finally update the blog. I've moved into a two bedroom apartment in Forest Hills Gardens in Queens. It's a beautiful area with great stone houses and apartment buildings, with an old-world sort of feel. It's very close to a shopping district and public transportation. My commute to 22nd St. in Manhattan takes 30 minutes.
The food here is very nice. Well, in Forest Hills I've only eaten a few times, but what I had has been good. One of the places I've eaten is Nick's Pizza, which has the reputation of being one of the best of New York City. The crust is thin, scorched, and tasty. The tomato sauce is wonderful and the mozzarella is great quality. During a street fair that happened last weekend, I ate at the Tres Burros booth, and they had a sort of burrito-like thing with wonderful grilled beef. Very tasty!
I've gone down to Jackson Heights (also in Queens) a few times. That's where Little India is. The food there is great, and they have these guys in tiny little stores that make you a pan, which is a betel leaf wrapping some lime spread, some sweet fennel seed, two kinds of betel-nut, some sweet syrupy thing and a bunch of other things as well. It cost one dollar. The guy who made it for me gave me instruction on how to eat it: "This may cause your tongue and teeth to get a little red. Also, just chew it with one side of your mouth". It was kind of bitter, minty, and sweet at the same time, with lots of interesting flavors.
OK, hopefully I'll start posting more regularly again. Sorry for the delay.
Another Manhattan oddity I've been noticing: the deli places that have odd cultural combinations. Next door to my office is a place seeing sushi and bagels. I saw another place today that was pizza and pearl milk tea (which they seem to call bubble tea here). What's next, a place that serves steaks and dosas?
I've been in Manhattan for a few days now, so it's finally time to write a blog entry about it. So far I'm really enjoying the time I spend here, although starting a new job and looking for a place to live is stress-inducing. One of the great things about Manhattan is how late everything stays open. When I flew in on Saturday, I had dinner at 11pm, and on subsequent days I usually eat around 9 to 10 pm.
Another interesting thing is that it seems that every place is also a cafe or other type of eatery. The people at work go to a furniture store for coffee. They say that "Bed Bath & Beyond" has the best burritos in the neighborhood. This is very bizarre to me.
The food is good, although not as light as California food. And the portion sizes are bigger, as well as the prices.
Well, those are pretty basic observations. More later.
I just came back from a weekend in St. Louis. This was the first trip I made with the kids to St. Louis. Everyone there was happy to see us (see my sister's and my parent's blog entry), and I got a kick out of interacting with my niece and nephew. Besides that, all my relatives came over for an open house, so I got to see all of them, which was great.
I also met my old friends Hal, Greg, Brian, and Amanda. Greg gave me a copy of the Riverfront Times Best of St. Louis issue. It was an interesting read, and I wish I had a little more time in St. Louis to try out some of the places mentioned. This last weekend was actually the 100-year anniversary of the famous 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, and the 200-year anniversary of the Lewis & Clark expedition. Greg, Brian, Amanda, and I discussed, among other things, our quest to find the Father of Nitro, so we can somehow get more Nitro. I'm not sure how that's going to work, but I've put in a few inquiries already, and hopefully we can contact him.
I wound up in Atlanta with Greta's sister. Greta and the kids are staying there, while I make the move to New York, find a place, and make it livable.
I fly out on Saturday.
I have eaten at Himawari twice now. The variety is good, and has sort of a "create-your-own ramen" feel going. You order a basic flavor (salt, soy sauce, miso, or spicy miso), and add condiments (green onions, seaweed, corn, etc.) Besides the ramen, they also have a few other noodles dishes, including "jar-jar men", a Korean noodle dish popular in Japan.
The food is quite good. The broth is lighter than Santa's powerhouse of a broth, and for the miso flavor, the broth had a notable sweetness to it. Those who think Santa's salt-flavor ramen is too salty will like this version, which tones it down a bit. The presentation is excellent, and the noodles themselves were decent.
I chatted with the owner. He operated a ramen shop in Japan before starting this restaurant with a partner. He plans to start advertising in the papers soon, but now he wants to get some word of mouth out. The place was empty this evening, but the first time I went for lunch, it had about 4 or 5 people in it.
I still think Santa is the best, but Himawari one probably is my next favorite. If I was in the mood for a subtler broth, I would choose Himawari over Santa, though. I think it may do well, it certainly is a little classier than Santa, and right in downtown instead of way down B Street.
In other ramen news, Ro-Zan Ramen will close down and become a Shabu Shabu place. That takes the number of downtown San Mateo Ramen shops down to 3.