Sunday I didn't get an ounce of nap time after returning from brunch after church. It dawned on me mid shift at work that night that, as a result of that and being up early for choir practice, it was going to be 24 hours before I got to sleep. Strangely, I wasn't tired until I actually got on the train. I think I dozed a few times and almost dropped the book I was reading once.
With a lack of material to work with for the last music cue for the score, I decided to spend yesterday afternoon in Manhattan before work. And while I had thought about coming back to the apartment before work, I had so much fun I wound up staying straight through until work.
So, I met Karishma in the West Village at her boyfriend's place and sprung an impromptu idea on her of going to Chinatown and hitting the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory among other things. So we hopped the 1 train to Canal Street and wound our way into the thick of it, searching for Bayard Street where the Ice Cream Factory can be found. We sort of lost our direction, at least I did, and managed to wander on to Bayard Street completely by accident because we were mainly navigating on our hunger instince. We decided on stopping first at a Hong Kong Style noodle shop on Bayard Street, where you could build your own noodle dishes (complete with ingredients like beef tripe, cow stomach and pig's blood). Karishma got the congee while opted to build my own noodles dish with thick egg noodles, mushrooms, cabbage and the fish balls. After that we wandered up Bayard Street again and stumbled on the Ice Cream Factory almost right away. This was of course, the first point at which I realized we were even on the right street. Karishma though, not having been satisfied by her rice porridge decided that she was rather determined to get fried dumplings, so onward we marched promising the Ice Cream Factory that we'd come right back. Turning the corner onto Mott Street, it suddenly became plain to me that I'd been down there before...12 years ago as a wide-eyed 17 year old kid on a choir trip to NYC with my high school class. Memories rushed in of a rainy day wandering the streets with a bunch of 16-year-olds who found things funny like "Big Wong Resataurant" and a Chinese man trying to sell us Baoding Balls and yelling at us for "breaking his balls" when we dropped one. I also totally remembered a pastry shop and bakery that I went into with two of my friends and one of the chaperones. It was still there. So was the Big Wong Restaurant.
After hitting Worth Street, we almost decided to head to a dumpling shop we knew of, away from all the coolness we had stumbled on that day. On a hunch, however, I said we should double back and check out a few side streets. It's funny how these places are always on side streets. Not the tiniest yet and certainly not the dingiest no name dumpling crevice, but it was there on Mosco Street, a rather short alley posing as a street between Mott and Mulberry. It thought we wouldn't find it, hahahahahah!
I didn't partake because, for some reason, my speedy recovery from the stomach virus I had the other day notwithstanding, I wasn't all appetite that evening. (Regretting my decision now as I type this) Plus the noodles filled me up and I was saving room for the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. Lychee Sorbet sounded good to me and Karishma got some chocolate ice cream flavored with Pandan. Good stuff all around.
Walking through Chinatown then, on a practically balmy January evening I realized it's been too long since I just picked up Time Out New York, found something cool to do and did it on a whim. I grabbed some photos with the new camera and then we headed up to Chelsea so I could drop things at work and show Karishma around before heading over to Fat Cat on Christopher Street. We were meeting some of Karishma's friends there for a birthday get together so I figured it'd be a perfect way to kill time before work.
There was live jazz which made me realize that I have lived in NYC almost a year and had never gone and seen live jazz in the city until then. In another year in this city, I'm sure I'll come across several hundred more things that I haven't done and probably should have already. One that immediately comes to mind is missing a chance to see a concert at Radio City Music Hall. The Swell Season is playing there tonight and I have to miss it because I didn't plan well enough.
But I have my work cut out for me tonight. Now, I have the final track that I need to remix for George's short film and nothing else to do except laundry today. An update soon on how that goes. Meanwhile, pictures of last night's adventure and some miscellaneous shots around town:
 |
| miscellaneous around town and Chinatown best |
No comments:
Post a Comment