Today someone I met recently asked for a link to my blog and I happily shared it with the knowledge that it's been a long time since my last update. I've taken a respite from writing because I've been preoccupied with moving and planting roots in new soil. Moving and setting in is a process, and moving to NYC has been both an exhilarating and exhausting process.
Since moving back to the States two months ago, R and I traded our big country house and garden in the Juras for a small 1 bedroom in the quaint neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens. For those of you who have visited NYC and not ventured out to Brooklyn or Queens, you are missing out!
R and I are getting to know our neighbors and the neighborhood which we chose for many reasons: its proximity to the city, the many trees that provide natural air conditioning, the farmers markets nearby, and its closeness to a certain yummy French patisserie and boulangerie. We've also noticed it's not as noisy here (relative to Manhattan and other areas in the city). There's a bit of craziness that comes with the quaint—within a 10 minute walk to Roosevelt Ave is probably the most culturally diverse part of Queens, where you can hear Hindi, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Nepalese, and much more.
Small adventures await outside our door step, no passport required! If we head in one direction, we're in Little India, where every single inch of sidewalk seems to be taken up by ancient men with long interesting facial hair selling whatever your heart may fancy. Their sidewalk tables are covered in jeweltone scarves, prayer rugs, sunglasses, plastic toys from China that squeak, move, and flash. If nothing strikes your fancy at these tables, don't worry. There is something for every impulse you may have....something for every sense. If you're a Bollywood fan, then you need to make a trip out to JH and rummage through the CDs and DVDs for rent and sale.
I'm sure one of Little India's stores and grocers will catch your attention—here you can find everything from the haut de gamme to the bas de gamme in flowing saris, head scarves to spices, Indian pickles, aromatic boxes of Indian mangoes. I've found myself returning a few times to Patel Brothers, which is an Indian supermarket chain much like Hong Kong Supermarket is for Chinese groceries or HMart is for Korean goods.
R and I have become big fans of Indian sweets which are very close to Middle Eastern sweets which we enjoyed in France. We're (quite) fond of (mango) kulfi, a delicious ice cream treat which you can buy on most streets in Little India. So far we've tried mango, vanilla cardamom, and pistachio. More to come of Little India in upcoming pieces.
Heading north, we cross over to the Spanish speaking part of Jackson Heights. A short walk away is Elmhurst and then Flushing, home to probably the largest community of Chinese in NYC. Just this weekend, after a delicious breakfast of croissants and apricot tart at Cannelle over the Sunday New York Times, we followed the music to Northern Avenue and watched a parade celebrating Ecuadorian culture. Unbeknownst to me, I picked the right color to wear that day: yellow, for Ecuador!
Now that we've mostly settled into our new home, I have a bit more time to write and enjoy NY. And also to cook. I have an enviable number of ethnic markets to browse and shop from. I was thinking of starting a new version of my blog to capture my adventures in NYC but for now I am resting here. I hope to share more with you in the coming weeks and months! R and I are here to stay for a while, so there are many adventures ahead of us.
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