I find New York City comforting. It comes with the territory I suppose, as I’ve spent a lot of my formative years making day trips to the city. For a long time, I never wanted to live in the city but recently, I’ve come to appreciate the familiar feelings of recollection and comfort as I venture around New York.
As I get older, I appreciate the spontaneity in the trips that I make, a departure from the checklist trips that I plan obsessively. I’ve started to realize that as time becomes more precious and valuable, there’s something about letting loose and living, getting caught up in the memories that are made from the things that may not happen as planned. I want to feel the city, breath in the smells and live it, instead of seeing it as an obstacle to be conquered.
I was in the city with my newly-minted New Yorker friend, Jenny, who I’ve known for nearly thirteen years, and we explored Brooklyn, Nolita and a bit of East Village.
Here are some snippets of our adventures:
Go to a brewery even though I’m not a beer person.
The story behind this is that I enjoy learning about the processes of how alcoholic beverages are made even though I don’t drink very often (Asian flush/glow is real). Brooklyn Brewery pops up in my Brooklyn searches a lot so I thought it would be cool to go to a tour and have a cup. It was a fun experience and the people who worked there were really friendly. I got a beer and if I were a beer person, I’d really like it but I’m not, so I have no real judgement on it. Jenny really liked hers.
Find a market. Eat delicious food. Find a ramen place. Eat some more.
We both had light breakfasts so we ended up going to DeKalb Market, which is Brooklyn’s largest food hall, for lunch. I got a chicken curry pastry from a Jamaican place and then got a paratha lamb (?) roll from BK Jani, a Pakistani vendor. It was delicious, despite the spice levels, and incredibly juicy.
Pink is very aesthetic for stores.
For a long time, I saw pink as an ultra feminine color but I’ve come to realize that pink can also be a strong color. Both Glossier and Bulletin have pink color schemes in their stores but they own it. Especially with Bulletin, a store that sells goods made by women for women, it was so nice to see them owning the color (and the female identity) unapologetically. They have a neon light at the back of the store that says, “I’m a fucking lady”, which is so neat.
Go to all the cool stores and not shop. Regret it later.
I walked into & Other Stories, COS, Everlane, Bulletin, and Muji yet came out of them with exactly the same things I walked into them with. I like the aesthetic of all the stores and I suppose I can say that I have self control because I didn’t buy anything but I think the feeling of “ugh I should’ve gotten that!” is starting to sink in.
There’s an ice cream place that sells creme brulee ice cream.
Morgenstern’s ice cream is close to the Everlane store so we walked there after coming out of Everlane. It was hard choosing a flavor but once I saw the creme brulee ice cream getting torched, I knew that was it. Basically they fill a cup of ice cream to the brim and take a torch to caramelize the top. Incredible stuff and absolutely delicious.
This trip can essentially be summed up as “they came and then, they ate” but I’m not mad about it. Food is the best.
