Trader Joe's comes to UWS!

Trader Joe's opened on the Upper West Side earlier last week. And it was a big deal. Well there are other Trader Joe's in town, but much farther from me and I heard the lines just to get in were crazy - like it's an exclusive club!

For those of you who don't know, Trader Joe's comes from California! Woohoo! It is headquartered in Monrovia, a hop skip and jump away from my hometown. I've been going to TJ's since as far back as I can remember (in the 1980s!) when my neighborhood Trader Joe's was just basically a liquor store with a couple of aisles of nuts, cheese, and dairy products, and that was about it. It has grown and expanded substantially since then.

In the past few years, I've been eating food and buying groceries almost exclusively from Trader Joe's, to the point where, why, just a couple of months ago I was complaining about the lack of variety. I have heard of people who disliked TJ's. OK one person. I was flabbergasted. I mean, some items, admittedly, are hit or miss. But the "miss" items go away quickly, as they are always coming up with new items. Unfortunately, some good things go away and never come back (oh, guacamango salsa! and coffee-flavored soy milk!). Since TJ's opened in Westwood, I found myself stopping by there several times a week on my way home. One day (why, just a couple of months ago), I stood in front of the prepared foods section, and looked at every single salad and sandwich they had. And it dawned on me, I had had every single item on the shelf!

Now that it's been over a month since I've had TJ's, I excitedly got on the 1 train on a Friday morning just to shop there. It's very strange. So it's on three stories. The first story is just the entry level, and there is nothing there except the escalator to go down. The "main" level has dairy, produce, and the checkout stations (I say stations for a reason). The lower level has the other stuff. Note, there is NO wine or hard liquor. Some kind of weird law in NYC prevents grocery stores from selling any wine or liquor (but they can sell beer). I guess because the lines can get very long, there is actually someone standing at the end of the line with a sign that says, "end of the line." Then, instead of checkout lanes, there is just one lane and they call out the cashier numbers when there is one free. e.g., "29!" and you go to station 29. All of the chocolate/candy that you would normally see at every checkout station is, instead, consolidated to one shelf at the "end of the line" - it's very strange.

Shopping in NYC has a real old world feel to it, where people went to specific stores just to buy specific items (it's a lot of work!). Since I was disappointed that I couldn't buy any wine (not even $3 two buck Chucks, which apparently they have at a TJ's Wine Shop in Gramercy, aka far from me) I have been craving wine. Not that I even drank that much wine back in L.A.! Something about not having something easily available, makes you want it more...

Going to TJ's brought some feelings of comfort. Comfort in seeing familiar products. Even comfort in the decor. And comfort in consuming the familiar products (even though they had only a fraction of the salads and sandwiches they had back in L.A.). I'll talk about "comforts" more in the next post...such as my comforting bowl of ramen from Mitsuwa in New Jersey:

But that's another story.

Updates to my room

Updated photos of my room!

After four weeks of feeling like I was "floating" in the middle of my room, and not able to get a good night's sleep, I finally decided to push my bed back toward the window, dormitory/prison style. I originally moved it away from the wall because I thought it'd look more "grown up" and more like a hotel room. But I believe in the rules of feng shui (loosely) and there's just no good way to arrange this room. First, there's no way I can possibly see the front door when lying down, unless I had my feet pointed toward the door which is also bad. And there's also no way to avoid having my bed caught "in the gust" between the door and the window. The window is just too darn big. Finally, I decided that for most of my life, I have slept with the wall to my right anyway, I might as well push the bed toward the wall. This way I feel anchored to something, and not like I'm falling off the edges of a twin XL bed. This also reduced the light from the crack between the blinds and the edge of the window from shining directly in my eye.

I have been sleeping slightly better ever since. Note I said slightly. Still not perfect. Still need either black out curtains or a better sleeping mask (the room is just too bright! Night and day!). Slowly but surely...slowly but surely.

Also here is the run down on how much I have spent on bedding in the hopes of making my sleeping arrangements better (yes, I am the princess and the pea!)

• $100 down comforter from Costco.com
  
• $50 duvet + sham from Amazon
  
• $85 sheets from Costco.com
  
• $10 on the first pillow from Target
  
• $3 on the first pillow protector from Target
  
• $40 on the second pillow from IKEA (Gosa Raps!)
  
• $4 on the second pillow protector from IKEA
  
• $45 microfleece blanket from Costco.com
  
• $65 memory foam mattress topper from Amazon
  
• $7 mattress pad from Target
• $25 mattress pad from Amazon
  

But who's keeping tabs?

Also here's a pic of my mini-fridge, with both doors open. It's like playing Tetris to make my food fit:

Redefining your concept of personal space

In L.A., personal space is defined by being able to see the headlights of the car behind you through your rear window. In NYC, there is no such thing as personal space. You can wish for it, but you aren't going to get it, unless you want to live like a hermit and stay holed up in your 200 sq ft apartment. Space is expensive. And having it is a luxury.

I've come to learn that it is completely unavoidable to be wedged in between two large, heavy set men when sitting on the bus or even a subway. First off, oftentimes seats are curved and pre-determined. It's actually better when they are, because otherwise someone might hog up 2 seats and they won't scootch to make space for you. With the pre-determined seats, you get the occasional a-hole who sits in between two seats (which doesn't make sense to me because there is a bump and can't be comfortable), but most times there is a little space showing where you can squeeze in. So unless you want to stand (sometimes you are just too tired to, and other times you'll find standing is just as crowded), you are going to squeeze your butt in between two large men. I've done it many times. This means shoulders, elbows, and unfortunately, hips, are touching. If I cross my arms and legs and lean forward I can oftentimes avoid any contact - and I do it, because I'm just not ready to touch a stranger!

It also seems like everywhere you go it's crowded or cramped. I don't know how restaurants meet fire codes. I don't know how people in wheelchairs use the restroom. Or even dine at a restaurant. I guess they just don't live here. Come to think of it, I hardly see people in wheelchairs. I never see obese people. Maybe slightly overweight, maybe heavyset (at least on the subway or bus when I'm trying to sit!) but not obese. This is certainly not an accessible city.

I actually feel relieved whenever I reach my little world of Morningside Heights, where the sidewalks are wide and you can actually walk in a straight line without bumping into someone.

On the plus side, it's kind of interesting that on any given day you can see hundreds of different strangers by simply going outside (in contrast, in L.A., you can see hundreds of cars of similar make, model, and color). It takes people watching to a whole new level (except you are often too close to people to watch them, must avert gaze and stare at the ground). Back home, if I was stuck in traffic on a weekend I wondered where everyone was going. You look inside cars and you see people yapping on cell phones, munching on food, or singing along with their radios. Today, I got on a packed downtown-bound A-train at 125th and wondered where everyone was going. Where are you all going!?!

It will take me a little time to redefine my concept of personal space. But, it will take me much longer to let go of my fear of dirt. (That's another topic).

Coney Island, Baby

A little behind on posting about my weekend excursions. So on Saturday, September 11, my crew and I headed out to Coney Island. Not because it was 9/11. But because it was a lovely Saturday. The weather was still pretty warm. I'd always heard about Coney Island but had never been, so here was my chance!

We took the D train, which is supposed to be Express (something I learned...Express means it doesn't make every stop, Local means it does. Not sure why they would use the word Local which doesn't make any sense to me just hearing the word, but hey, now I get it. But more on that some other time). Anyway so we took the D train and it took an hour to get there. We arrived around noon and it was pretty dead. Some places hadn't even opened yet.

None of us felt like riding the roller coasters, which seemed slightly fancier than your average traveling carnival or county fair, but still not as fancy as an actual amusement park. Not sure though, since I didn't ride anything.

First stop was world famous Nathan's hot dogs. Now I can check that off my list. It was decent, but certainly not as good as Pink's in L.A. (or even a Dodger Dog, for that matter). I did like the bagged potato chips a lot though (see picture). It was the perfect amount of salt for me.





Then because there didn't seem to be much else to do, we went to New York City's only aquarium, the New York Aquarium (also the nation's oldest aquarium). We had to "wait on line" to buy tickets (see picture...for those of you not following me on FB, more on that later) and got suckered in to buying a "Total Experience" package. For an extra three bucks (or four?) we saw a special 4-D presentation of Planet Earth. 4-D means they blow air and spray water on you. It was only 10 minutes long. Oh and they blew bubbles too.


The aquarium was ridiculously small, by California standards (hello Monterey Bay! and Long Beach!). You could tell it was the oldest aquarium in the nation. We watched a rather anticlimactic show of...you guessed it, California seals. And then navigated crowded halls of screaming children to look at equally crowded fish tanks. (Here is also where I heard the most number of people speaking with thick Brooklyn accents. e.g., mom: "'ey, kids, come 'ere, take a pictcha wit the wahl-rus")

Then we headed to the beach and did some jumping shots (not posted!) and headed back to the boardwalk. I had some good fried shrimp (a bit pricey though - $8 for 5 shrimp!). And we were pretty much on our way. Thus concluded our 7-hour Coney Island excursion.

Embarrassing Bus Moment #2

The first was when I didn't know I had to push the yellow bars on the back door to open the back door and was frantically yelling "back door! back door!" to no avail. The second was when I was feverishly pushing and pushing the back door - someone behind me even yelled "push!" before someone else gently pointed out that the bus hadn't reached the proper stop yet. Sigh.

Defining Home

The other day I was sitting around and thinking about how much I missed home and how I wanted to go home. And then I started thinking, well, what is "home"?

When I say the word out loud I think in general I am referring to L.A. but if I got on a plane right now and showed up in L.A., there's not really a specific, physical marker that I could go to and call it home.

Sure, there is my parents' house. But a house is not a home! It's my parents' house, not mine. They would be flabbergasted if I referred to it as THEIR house rather than OUR house, which I'm sure many of you understand. It's cultural. And yes, sure, I can say it's my house, but is it my HOME? It's not. It's simply the place I lived in from age 4 to 18, and since age 18, it's simply been a place I go to once in awhile, and a place where I store my stuff. I have spent more years living outside of that house that I did living in it. (How strange to think about!)

Sometimes, I think perhaps my old apartment is "home" - at least my old room. In my mind it is still intact, with all the furniture, bedding, and stuff still there, as I had it for many years. The memory of my old room intact extends for years while the memory of it deconstructed was only for 1-2 days, so I can't visualize it as empty as well as I can with it intact. It's strange to think that it's just not there anymore. I keep thinking that I am on some extended business travel where I am part-working and part-relaxing, and at any day now I will get back on the plane and land at LAX, and hop on the 405 to Wilshire and arrive HOME.

It's really strange how some simple, otherwise meaningless routines can become so permanently ingrained, that to take it away can feel so jarring.

My old apartment is not even one of the best places I've ever lived in (the best is yet to come?), in fact, toe to toe I got a sweeter deal right now.

On a side note, I somehow miss driving! And I miss my car! I think I have forgotten how to drive! The last time I drove was on a hot Monday afternoon sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on the 10 freeway and I thought to myself, "Sure not gonna miss this!" and you know what? I kinda do!

This afternoon I took a little stroll down Riverside Park and enjoyed views of the Hudson River, and actually found it comforting to see the rush hour traffic along the river. Reminded me of PCH. Except fewer lanes. And no marine layer. And warmer.

I didn't end up selling my car. It's parked outside my parents' house gathering dirt and dust. Felt like it was too much trouble when I couldn't possibly get that much money for it (it's a 1999 Camry). I'm kind of glad I kept it because it's just another piece of me that would feel missing. And now I have something to drive when I'm back in L.A.

Clearly, I don't do well with drastic changes. Yet I somehow have a knack of letting routines pile up well past their due dates and then make drastic changes all at once. It's good for you, right? It's good for your brain. And after all, didn't I say that I was "done" with L.A. when I was there?

I know it's only a matter of time before I find my HOME. It's all the time waiting in between that's driving me crazy.

The Kao is stuck in Morningside Heights

Graffito on the platform. (Someone posted a note underneath that said, "I do. Been with her ten years." The next day someone else wrote, "Love gave me AIDS." And the next day, it was cleaned up.)

The Kao is stuck in Morningside Heights!

Such is the life of a graduate student. I realized earlier this week that perhaps having an unlimited Metro Card is useless, and that I ought to switch to pay-per-ride. Sigh. Decisions decisions. Odd that I am willing to pay for unlimited rides but struggled in deciding whether to upgrade my texting package (in the end, I caved in and upgraded. Texting is a necessity here...cell phones don't work on all subways and you don't want to have obnoxious phone calls in public anyway). Will keep the unlimited card for now.

Columbia University, main campus.

Teachers College, main entrance
The front of my building! Hurrah!


My next posting will be titled, "Learning to readjust your definitions of 'personal space' and letting go of your fear of dirt."

The Kao roams to Midtown, Flushing, Governors Island, AND Brooklyn all in one long weekend

In case you were worried that I was merely sitting in my 216 sq ft room twiddling my thumbs and pining for the stuff I left behind in Los Angeles, I actually left the room and covered a lot of ground in the past four days!

Friday's uptown bus tour allowed me to see a lot of negative signage (there is a lot of don't do this don't do that around here):


And a lot of rooftop water towers:


The cleanest public spot in all of New York City I've ever seen:


And, a small reminder of UCLA...Duke Ellington statue:



Rigatoni bolognese and limoncello mousse at Basso56 in midtown




On Saturday, I made it all the way out to Flushing!
Some amazing hot pot at Udu Cafe


And walked into a Hong Kong Supermarket like it could be anywhere in the world (which was somewhat comforting). They all look and smell exactly the same!


Sunday was an 8-hour excursion to Governors Island for a food truck event (because yes, they are trendy here too!). Not because it's that far. But because it took THAT long to get on the island, get food, eat it, and get off the island. And stop by Mickey D's along the way back.

There is a free, short ride to Governors Island which used to be a military base. Now it's just used to hold events and people walk or bike around the island. Walking around the island may have been a better use of my time than to stand in line for an hour and 40 minutes for quite possibly the worst Indian food I've ever eaten. Kept wanting to give up waiting but felt like I already committed time...didn't even get to try the "locally crafted beer" they kept boasting about. There was a line for that too.

At least there was a nice view of the Manhattan skyline.

Lots of people. Lots of people waiting to ferry out.

Monday, Labor Day, sure was laborious (har har). A simple trip to IKEA - granted, even back home a trip to IKEA couldn't be simple (they suck you in!) - took 6 hours round trip! I feel like I can really only do one thing per day here. Have not yet learned to multi-task. Well, first off IKEA is kind of far from where I am. We had to ride the subway (with one transfer) for about 40 minutes. Then we took the water taxi (yes, water taxi!) to Brooklyn. You have to buy a ticket for $5 but when you buy $10 worth of stuff at IKEA the cashier credits 5 bucks back to you. Then you get back to the water taxi and show your receipt and they let you on for free.

And so of course we had to have IKEA FOOD. The restaurant has a nice view of the Statue of Liberty, so I got prime window dining! (Can sort of see it in the distance in my photo). Then I had to lug my bags of IKEA wares and a rolled up rug all the way back uptown. I feel like I accomplished a major physical feat. The rug is not great but it was only 20 bucks and now my feet won't get cold when I step out of bed, and at least you guys will have a rug to sleep on when you come to visit (haha!).



It was also somewhat comforting to be inside IKEA (the warehouse/checkout area looks exactly like the one in Burbank) and eating Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce (with a better view!)

And thus, concludes my whirlwind long weekend in NYC.
Photos of my newly IKEA-fied room to come.

What's in my suitcase?

In my ongoing obsession with "stuff" I thought I'd talk about what I packed in my suitcase, kind of along the same vein of the I'm Just Walkin' guy (who, incidentally, recently finished walking across America! Not too many days after I flew across America on a plane!). He brought three pairs of pants. I did better. I brought four. The plane ride helps.

In my 27" suitcase, which had a maximum weight limit of 50.0 lbs according to United's checked baggage requirements (I got it to exactly 50.0 but the bag weighs 12 lbs empty!), and my 19" carry-on, which had no weight limit but was definitely over 30 lbs, I packed:

• 4 pairs of pants (2 jeans, 1 casual, 1 dressy)
• 2 pairs of shorts (both casual, 1 short, 1 longish)
• 5 skirts (3 dressy, 1 casual, 1 that can go either way)
• 4 dresses
• 15 blouses (only 2 long-sleeved)
• 9 casual baby T's
  
• 4 sweaters
• 1 short jacket
• 1 thin trench coat
• 1 rain coat
• 1 wool coat
• assorted t-shirts, gym clothes, pajamas, etc that can otherwise be used as loungewear (because I do like to lounge)
• a month's worth of underwear (TMI? so I don't have to do laundry very often!)
• unmentionables (definitely TMI)
  
• 1 swimsuit
• 3 pairs of gloves
• 2 hats
• 8 scarves (ranging from lightweight silk to heavyweight cashmere)
• 7 pairs of shoes (my Keens, ballet flats, flip flops, running shoes, walking shoes, tall black leather boots, and black kitten heel pumps)
• 2 handbags
  

Does it seem like a lot? Somehow, I keep feeling like I have nothing to wear. I probably went to college with less clothes (and definitely less shoes) yet I was fine. Since when did I become so high maintenance? Also I should mention I stored the rest of my clothes at my parents' house....which fills one whole closet, plus 1 large plastic storage container, 1 tall plastic drawer unit, 1 cardboard drawer unit, and 1 regular dresser! (Not counting the 40+ pairs of shoes left behind!) (And don't get me started on bags!)

When it gets cold, I will probably be wearing the same outfit week after week. How boring, I think. Why did I not pack more pants? Because they didn't fit in the suitcase! Of course, looking back at the list, I could have foregone one sweater and one scarf in lieu of another pair of pants, but oh well, too late now. I think I got it 95% right.

OK, and then as I mentioned before, I shipped 6 boxes of stuff to myself:

• 2 Media Mail boxes of books, mostly academic
• 2 Flat-Rate Priority Mail boxes
• 2 large Parcel Post boxes

What was in those boxes you say? Junk. Yes mostly junk.

• various toiletries, including shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, makeup, nail care (stuff I already had and figured would be a waste to toss)
  
• 2 handbags (yes, if you're keeping count, now I have 4!)
• 1 pair of rain boots
• my tush cush (for my chronic tailbone problem)
  
• officey supplies, like notebooks, folders, pens, stapler, etc.
• my alarm clock that I've had since undergrad (somehow very comforting to look over and see)
• 2 surge protectors (turns out I only need one) and other various power supplies (e.g., battery chargers and cables for my cameras)
• plastic organizational trays (thank gods I shipped those, so handy!)
• small kitchen supplies (e.g., utensils, chopsticks, can opener, peeler)
• vitamins
• small tools
  
• and probably some other small junk I don't remember

What I had to buy immediately:

• bed sheets, blanket, and comforter, all ordered from Costco.com and waiting for me when I arrived
• a quick, 2-hour journey to Target on the first day of arrival got me a pillow, a mattress pad, a Brita, a mug, bath towels and bath mats, kitchen towels, and some basic cleaning supplies
• darted around town to Marshall's (non-stick pan, shower caddy), Office Depot (desk pad because my desk is scratched up and nasty), and Goodwill (plates and a bowl, the prices weren't very cheap but I was already there)
  
• in the last week, I've purchased online: a bath robe (hey, I had an LL Bean gift card from my credit card anyway!), a hot water kettle (those of you who know me well know my tea and hot water habit), a Swiffer kit, an all-in-one printer, textbooks, and a ream of paper. Thank you Amazon for offering free Prime membership to anyone with a dot edu email address! Hooray!

I am thinking that the mail room people will get to know me as well as the guys in my old office who were always bringing me packages did. :) It's just too bad I get charged tax here for ordering from Amazon and for B&H, which they couldn't charge me tax for back in CA. Oh well, at least tax is, surprisingly, only 8.87% for merchandise. And 0% for clothes! (It's 9.75% in Los Angeles!) Really though, I need to kick the acquiring stuff habit. This is why I will not be purchasing any clothes, shoes, or handbags in the next 6 months, at least (unless due to dire need, such as weather issues). Check back on my progress around March.

This socalfoodie in NYC

What's a blog by me without some discussion of food?
Especially since, officially, as of today, my former food blog, socalfoodies dot com was officially shut down. :(

After experiencing some rather exorbitant grocery store prices (who pays over 5 bucks for a box of cereal!?!), I've come to realize that it may actually be more economical to eat out, depending on where you go and what early bird specials you hit up.

Maoz Vegetarian - for about 8 bucks you get a falafel sandwich, fries, and a drink, and all you can stuff salad toppings! Sure, the falafel is just average and a bit dry, but the salad "toppings" are pretty good, and we snuck some extra salad toppings in the little sauce containers (beets, chick peas, and olives shown here).

Also managed to find an early bird prix fixe meal that included salad, pasta, and ice cream for only $11.95 at a diner, and aside from the ice cream, it was pretty good! Better than I expected.


I somehow expected all restaurants to be priced outrageously, but so far, at least in Morningside Heights, I've been able to have $3 pints of beer, $10 specialty cocktails, and pasta dishes for under $20. Not too shabby. Seems to be more efficient to eat out anyway... whether to get food "to go" OR "to stay" (as they say).

Boat Basin Cafe. Food, not so great. View? Pretty good.




























Trader Joe's oh how I miss thee!!


















Crumbs. We have these in L.A. too.






To be continued...

Tiny Toilet #1

#1 in a series.
Spotted: Lions Head Tavern (Amsterdam & 109th)