A few months before I am in New York, I was so psyched about New York. I have watched countless Hollywood films when I was a child, was once addicted to Gossip Girl and Chuck Bass (and am ashamed of it), and curious about the Trump Towers.
A few minutes prior to arriving New York, I felt a shiver of excitement trickling down my spine. And Frank Sinatra was belting out "I wanna wake up in the city that never sleeps" into my ears.
When I am truly in New York, like smack bang in the middle of the whole New York action, I can tell you, I absolutely despised it. I do not know why. Suddenly, I was missing Boston. Missing is an understatement. I was dying to crawl back to Boston, if I had the chance to. Boston, was a far brighter city, and the air is fresher. People are less rude. You rarely hear honks.
People often compare New York to Hong Kong but Hong Kong is a hundred times better. Hong Kong is meticulous no matter where you go. There is a sense of order. Even in the burbs.
New York, on the other hand, is messy. Messy, messy, messy. On the streets, you are bound to elbow someone because that someone walks in a zig-zag direction. From your car, you will see a mess of mustard yellow, the colour of competitive cabs. That shade of yellow is so ugly and artificial that you just want to scrub the colour off your the mental blackboard with mental Chlorox. The subway IS dirty and you have to swipe the Metro Card with confidence or else you will be rejected. The streets are either awfully narrow or awfully broad. You see the poorest of people and the wealthiest of them all. Buildings are either spanking new, equipped with the latest designs or rickety old, like the Fashion Institute of Technology (the lifts are older than my mom, I'm so sure of it). Not many will smile at you. It is common if they don't ask for your name. New York evolves so quickly that Ground Zero has lost the solemnity that it used to have. When I walked past it, I felt this sense ! of remor se but everyone else seemed so unaffected. I actually could not bear to stand next to Ground Zero because it was so heart wrenching. So many people have died. I was in a country that was so far away yet when the realization hit me that people were jumping out of the There's smog everywhere in New York and I actually came home smelling like smog. I took a shower and there was no hot water. My brain froze in the shower room and there was no ventilation to get rid of the sickeningly sweet perfume from my pomengranate bodywash.
New York is not as pretty as what one sees in the silver screen and this is the truth. New York, like the food in the restaurants that I have hoped to enjoy today but failed to, IS OVERRATED. One watches so much about New York. When I was in my teens, I watched a food programme that featured Pastis and Spice Market. Both are swanky places in the Meatpacking District but yours truly is very disappointed with her meals because when yours truly turned into a girl in her early adulthood, she became increasingly health conscious.
This became a problem because Pastis is a place for you to get fat and the ! Spice Ma rket did not have the healthiest of choices even though the menu looks healthy. The reason for me having dinner in two different places today was that I could not stand eating the Pork Milanese that I ordered from Pastis. It was too greasy and was sitting on a pool of oil. Now, I truly understand why did that New York Times reviewer gave Pastis a 1 out of 4. I would do the same, based on the Pork Milanese. It was disgusting and the place, which may impress a francophile, was just so cramped like New York itself. Fortunately, it costs 25 USD and the salad was quite edible (Note the usage of "quite").
I hopped on to Spice Market because I saw tables with bowls of colourful vegetables that were shredded into very thin strips. I trusted my instincts and foolishly made two very wrong choices. I ordered one crunchy squid salad with papaya and fennel and spicy noodles with silken tofu and greens. Reason for ordering two dishes? They were supposed to be appetizers. Big mistake. The portions were way too big. The crunchy squid meant fried squid, not crunchy as in the adjective. The noodles were actually yellow in colour and I do not consume noodles that are yellow in colour, unless they are made of potato starch. Plus, the broth is too rich (I was told it was clear). Fortunately, the salad was edible and the dressing had a little salted egg yolk in it. The noodles had generous amounts of green and the tofu was amazing. It was very silky and satisfied my craving for tofu.
In the end, I hated myself for making the wrong decisions. So far, everything has went wonderful in Boston. My mom praised my for my correct shopping decisions. My sister loved the stuff that I got for her. The stuff that I ate in Boston exceeded my expectations (Boston is not a culinary city unlike New York) and I actually thought that Boston would have sub-standard food.
I was wrong. New York was the one that dazzled on the outside but was quite underwhelming i! n realit y. However, there are certain things that I felt happy about in New York. For instance, I was struck by the kindness of the janitor in FIT. The dorm room that I was residing in FIT had no garbage bin. So, I went down to the lobby and in my mind, I had this idea of asking the security guard for a garbage bin. Instead, I saw the janitor! So, I asked her for the garbage bin. She actually brought it up to where I lived! I was going to tip her because I read the horrible stuff about "low skilled" workers and felt that many people in New York doing these so called "low skilled jobs" must be living really horrible lives. She refused the tip and said the most wonderful things that I've ever heard to me! I was so touched that I did not know what to say!
Also, Whole Foods impresses me. I love Whole Foods. Period. Then again, Whole Foods is everywhere in the US!
As I am typing this out, a thought came across me. Boston and New York are like two different guys. Boston is the one who inherited a large amount of money from his parents but never touches much of it. In fact, he saves it He is a hard worker, reasonably smart, neat and organized, not very witty and conservative. New York got his riches from scratch, spends a lot of time grooming highly intelligent, sporadic, messy, open to opportunities but cold on the inside.
Sorry New York but I don't really like the wild. Maybe I will love you but maybe I will not even after I am done with you.
Little things: PASTIS
-Cuisine: TRADITIONAL French, Bistro
-Ambience: Very European. Leather seats are peeling off by the way. Hot. Noisy. Packed. Grimy. A place to do some people-watching and be watched. Pretty people walk in and out of the place. They dress very nicely and it makes you wonder, how can they still be a size zero and eat all that grease!
-Service! : Too ov erwhelming that it chokes me.
-Portions: GINORMOUS. You go here to get fat. Take note of that. If you're thinking healthy, this is not the place for you.
-Budget: Damage done was 26 USD. It was a 26 USD that I did not want to pay. Can you believe I actually said that? As a result, I am going to punish myself and have only fruits and greens for breakfast and lunch/dinner for two days. I feel incredibly guilty.
-Other information:
Little things: Spice Market
-Cuisine: South East Asian cuisine as interpreted by Jean-Georges. I think most dishes are not bad, from the way they look.
-Ambience: Please sit on the inside. It's way swankier and very exotic. Plus, you may spot some rich and famous people. I spotted lots of pretty people on the inside. They look so pretty that I was envious!
-Portions: Reasonable. Not too bad.
-Budget: 20 USD spent. It's not a waste but still... I am unhappy. Therefore the self-imposed punishment is justified.
-Other information:
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