Eatus Non Interruptus

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Eatus Non Interruptus

Any visit to NYC is punctuated with an orgy of eating. The plethora of food choices is not surpassed as far as I know by any other city in the world. The choices range from small little stores to full blown restaurants with a variety of décor and non décor. I have awarded a certain amount of pigs to each restaurant as a rating; I have also added a certain amount of winged dollars which represent cost.

JOYA

One of the best eating orgies so far has been a small Thai restaurant called Joya. I Joya is located in Brooklyn's Cobble Hill section Perhaps it would best be called a thigh restaurant as I left I swear my thighs were beginning to rub together as I waddled toward the door . This restaurant was truly a joya. I ordered one of the daily specials which was a chicken with asparagus in a coconut curry sauce served over a broad "drunken" noodle. Speaking of drunken the wine, which was decent was a Pinot Grigio. It was served as a full goblet not a mean little bit of droplets. The restaurant is located at 215 Court Street in Brooklyn. It does not take credit cards but the prices are quite reasonable. The décor is trendy and it is filled with the young and the hip. It has a backyard dining area with trees that grow in Brooklyn which add a rather abstract quality and a certain amount of intimacy to the dining experience.

Peter Luger's House of Gluttony

Peter Luger’s in Brooklyn is one of the primer Steakhouses in the world. It serves porterhouse steak which are intensely marbled and dripping with flavor. The ambiance is steakhouse; the waiters are amiable and jocular; the service is good; the prices are very high as is the cholesterol content of all. The URL for the E-menu follows. There are no prices noted on the E-menu. A baked potato is $5.00. The spinach for two is $11.00. They take cash and the Peter Luger credit card.

http://www.peterluger.com/index2.cfm

Ki Sushi

Ki is a wonderful restaurant in Cobble Hill..
Are we starting to get the picture that Manhattan is not the be all and end all of eateries???? In fact some of the better restaurants are not in the BIG Island and that tunnel people just may be getting the advantage????

Ki is located in Cobble Hill on Smith Street, see: ki.sushi.com. It is the some of the best sushi I've ever had .The setting is minimalist and elegant; the service is friendly and competent; The food is excellent and fresh!

For a special luncheon choose the Chirashi Lunch at $12.00 this is quite a deal.

http://ki-sushi.com/

The Alternate Side of the Street Parking Game

One of the quainter New York City customs which I have delighted in participating over the years is the Alternate Side of the Street Parking Game. In this real life, real time game, you search for a legal parking spot for the day or a series of days. None of this Second Life virtual stuff this is the real deal.

There are 34 days when alternate side of the street parking rules are suspended. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/motorist/scrintro.shtml#calendar2008

Included in these 34 days are such holidays as Idul-Fitr which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan and means the Feast of the Breaking of the Fast and Diwali which celebrates the day that Lord Krishna returns from Pragyotishpur (Nepal) completing a journey where he killed the demon king Narakasur, freed 16,000 daughters of the gods in the king’s harem and reclaimed the Mother Goddess, Aditi’s earrings. To prove he was victorious in killing the demon, Lord Krishna returned home with the king’s blood smeared on his forehead.

In South India they reenact the victory of Lord Krishna by breaking melons on the door step of their homes. Melons represent the head of the demon King. After smashing the melon, people will smear their foreheads with a mixture of kumkum powder and oil, which represents the blood Lord Krishna which was smeared on his head. I like the sound of this holiday.

The penalties for sleeping in are considerable: ticket plus towing charge of close to $200.00.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dof/html/parking/park_tickets_violations.shtml#links

However, if you have the misfortune to be towed, the impoundment charge of $10.00 to $15.00 a day is probably the best parking deal in Manhattan. I found that out several years ago. I forgot about moving my car on a particular day. As I was taking the express bus down to Wall Street I couldn’t help but notice that the block where my car was parked was completely empty. Now I knew it hadn’t been stolen because the thieves would have had to have stolen an entire block of cars, which is not inconceivable but still, a bit of a reach. So when I got to my office I called the police and found my car had been towed to a lot “on the Westside”. I was informed that the daily storage charge was $5.00 a day, one hell of a deal. I left it there for two weeks. They were not amenable to a monthly deal, but I did inquire.

On the Upper East Side, where I am playing, the rules are NO Parking Tues and Friday 9:00AM to 10:30 AM and NO Parking Monday and Thursday 9:00AM to 10:30 AM. These rules are for the opposite side of the street. South side is Tues/Friday and North Side is Mon./ Thursday. The times vary by location to allow the street cleaning person to come through with the street cleaning vehicle. There are other players in this game, the NYPD, who can ticket, the Traffic police, who can ticket and the Garbage police who can also ticket.

Rules and customs can change one must be alert. Some of the police can be having a tough day. Keep that in mind. Where I am playing currently it is really quite simple. You go out and sit in your car at 9:00 AM. It is advisable to bring a book or newspaper, coffee, and perhaps even your computer. Sit in your car do not move. You do not have to turn your car on until you see the cleaning vehicle. It will come barreling along at breakneck speed and you quickly move your vehicle to let it pass. If you don’t there could be devastating results as a Bronx man found out as he walked his Boston terrier, Ginger. http://wcbstv.com/local/dog.street.sweeper.2.747910.html



If you are on a major two way street you can make a graceful arc, a U turn, a circle turn actually, so you end up in the exact spot you left just moments ago. This of course violates many traffic rules and could place you in deep yogurt, if New York’s Finest see this move. The other option is to skulk in your car at the beginning of a block, waiting for the street cleaner to come through. You then whip around the corner right behind the street cleaner and establish yourself in a spot. It is not as graceful or fulfilling as the circle method.

If you are in a one way street you double park and move quickly into a spot after the street sweeper comes through.

After you have established yourself you must sit in the car until the appointed time limit is up. Leaving even a minute early can earn you a parking ticket. In my case that is 10:30 AM. Remember the street cleaner may come through again which means you have to move again. The police may be in a bad mood and chase you. Wednesdays are a free Parking Day. I like to think of it as a reward for making it halfway through the week.

There is a New Mile High Club and I am a member.....she gasped

I hit the road at the crack of mid morning arriving at My friend Ron's about noon and toured his garden. His garden is large; no wimpy little veggie patch for Ron. His garden is more like plowing, planting and maintaining the back forty. Ron does organic gardening, eschewing all forms of insecticide. Needless to say he composts. Ron is very, very green.

There are at least four different types of tomatoes, Japanese cucumbers, zucchini, beans and corn. This garden goes on for quite a bit; this is only a partial shot.Ron creates ravioli from scratch. No bachelor fare for this guy, very impressive.

But, you ask what the hell does this have with the "Mile High Club"???? Nudge, nudge, hee, hee...well frankly not a damn thing......The mile high club is an exclusive entity. It has nothing to do with the original meaning , of airplane fame, of a few years ago; I will explain:



After dinner and wonderful conversation ( now don't get rude, we're talking
first dictionary meaning) and a scotch or perhaps two...........ah yes, summer is a commin' in......... The basic need to relieve myself comes upon me...so I seek out the loo, which is off the dining area. Ron in all his greenness has had the wisdom to install a large strip of fly paper at the midway point of entrance.. I stride towards the door. My hair becomes entangled in the flypaper which is encrusted with it's intended victims .I am grossed out.. I am a pteronarcophobiac, something I never realized before...... When I shared with Ron what happened , he was quite unperturbed....He simply informed me that walking into the fly paper made me a member of the Mile High Club. I asked him who the other members were. he said his brother, who did the same thing..walked into the fly paper. When he said this it seemed extremely funny, perhaps it had to do with having had two Scotches. The next morning, upon reflection.. it made absolutely no sense.. pero asi es la vida ... I'm trying free association fly, flies , plane is this how we get there from here? I'm so confused. As my mother would say.. tomorrow is another day.

The Great Escape

Escaping South Florida has become tradition for me. I trek north while visions of bogeying down Broadway dance in my head.

The day started out as a bit overcast but my mood was sunny. The car packed to the hilt was fully gassed up and ready to go. So off I went to my first scheduled stop, anticipating a really great dinner at my friend Ron’s, in Taccoa, Georgia.

Everything was great until I started hitting bad weather. Weather in the south can be pretty dynamic in summer. I encountered possibly the worst thunder and lightning storm outside of the hurricanes in Florida of a few years ago. Certainly, the worst I've ever driven in. The outside temperature gauge in the car appeared to not be working right …… how could the temperature drop so quickly from the low
nineties to high sixties in less than 15 seconds? Hummmmmm and what’s the story with this wind???? Tornado? Is that Possible? Does the Toyota Camry come with a root cellar? I’m a sitting duck, that bloody desk that would look so cute in that corner in the apartment and stuffed into the back seat is going to crush me to death when that out of control eighteen wheeler behinds me plows into me. If not death by desk then death by mirror from the shards of glass from that stupid mirror and what about all those framed prints with glass? Anxiety can build quickly just given a chance. I took shelter under an overpass on the interstate. I think I saw two guys do that in some movie. They lived to tell their story! I stayed for some period of time and waited and waited; took off again. The whole dumb thing happened all over. I got off the road, checked into a motel and then found comfort food. Tomorrow is another day.

Travelers Tips

Do pick up discount motel books even if you don’t plan on stopping

Cracker Barrel is a good bet and does take out