Saturday…
Whew, it's pretty warm out. After Leena and I took a cool shower then researched paneer pasanda on the web, got dressed and headed out.
I found two restaurants in Manhattan that listed paneer pasanda on their online menus, and one in Queens, but looking at photos of the one in Queens, I couldn't tell if it was a sit-down place, or take-out only. I'm sure there's more, but not tied in with the GrubHub menu system...
I got off the train at Prince Street, turned around a few times at the top of the stairs to orient myself and then headed up to Bleecker Street and over into The Village...
I almost didn't see Indian Taj because it was on the opposite side of the street, with a big truck blocking it while offloading... But I did and went in. It wasn't very crowded, only two couples at tables near the front, close to the buffet. Since I was already sweating from the short walk, I asked for a table wherever it's coolest, so they seated me at private booth in the back. I told the waiter I'd like to order from the menu rather than the buffet, so he came back with that... I quickly found what I wanted, the paneer pasanda, and ordered that with two plain, sada naan.
There was a bit of a wait, and the booth was very close, with curtains running all the way to ceiling. But across the restaurant, to the side was some nice Indian artwork to keep my eyes occupied while I waited.
When he brought the dishes I was surprised. I'd never seen paneer pasanda in a red gravy before, always white, and relatively dry... But he set it down saying "paneer pasanda" then set down the bread bowl, saying "two orders of naan" so it's not like they got the order wrong... And it was chunks of paneer, not thin layers with stuffing... But now that I'm looking online again at their menu, the description is "cubes of cheese seasoned with authentic spices butter & cream, served with basmati rice" which is exactly what I got...
My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach and I should've only ordered one naan, not two. Especially since they were butter naan, despite ordering plain. Same as last time, but maybe "plain" means "butter" here because that's the normal order or something. The bill has always been for the price of plain, so maybe butter naan just has a lot more butter or something... I couldn't finish it all, and in fact, I think I tried too hard because I was a bit uncomfortable from eating too much, rather than stopping at "fully satisfied."
I also think my capacity has gone down since coming to New York because I eat smaller meals all the time, so when faced with a big meal, I simply can't eat as much. Not that that's a bad thing, just don't take me to any expensive all-you-can-eat places...
Overall, it's probably worth returning to that restaurant. The dish was good, it simply wasn't what I expected, but I'm sure other stuff is probably good, too...
After I finished and paid I headed out to the streets again. I walked up to Madison Square Park, near the Flatiron Building, where I found a park bench in the shade. I spent an hour or so reading there on the iPad, occasionally sipping some of the water I carried with me, watching people go past, watching the squirrels and birds, etc...
While sitting there I cooled off and started to think maybe summer weather isn't so bad. But once I got up again, I was uncomfortable in the heat before I was even out of the park... Also, the allergies weren't so bad when I was sitting still, but once I got up to walk again, I was stuffed up, my eyes were running and I was sneezing...
I walked along 23rd Street, from the Flatiron Building almost to the river, and it's quite a busy street. Lots of good looking restaurants to try there... It also rained lightly, very lightly, unbelievably lightly, just a few drops from a single cloud overhead, for a few minutes till that one cloud blew over. That single cloud didn't even block the sunshine...
Then down to the High Line again. I walked the length of it, twice, but couldn't find a free seat in any shady spot because it was so crowded. But at least I got to use the bathroom and the water fountain...
From there I walked over towards the river, because I saw an interesting ship at the dock, but couldn't get close, and the sun was awfully hot out there, despite the breeze blowing off the water. So, I headed back in on 15th Street, till 9th Avenue and then walked up 14th Street to Union Square. I picked up a $1.50 cup of fresh apple cider from a vendor at the farmer's market there (the market is in Union Square Wednesday, Friday and Saturday almost every week of the year).
Then I took the subway home. Back in Brooklyn I dropped my backpack off at the apartment, then went out once more to buy some allergy medicine Gary recommended, then out again to buy some groceries...
Now I'm in... I took a long, cool shower that helped some. I see I got some sun on my face, a light sunburn, not too bad...
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Sunday...
I slept in a bit later this morning, took a long, cool shower, a light breakfast, another cool shower and got dressed to head on out, with no particular plan in mind.
I took the R train and even into Manhattan couldn't decide where to get off and what to do, other than be outside... It was blazing hot just walking from my apartment to the subway station two blocks away. But not as hot as yesterday... I was half considering getting off at 23rd Street and reading in Madison Square Park, or Times Square and doing who-knows-what, or Central Park and finding a spot to read, or taking it to Queens and check out Jackson Heights, or switching to an R or Q along the way and taking either of those to Astoria in Queens just to sight see...
In the end some other dude made the decision for me... A one-man-band guy got on at the station before 57th Street and was playing a trumpet. A trumpet! A fucking trumpet! In a subway car! It was way too loud and hurt my ears like hell, so I got off at 57th Street, which is very close to Central Park.
So, I walked up to Central Park and figured I could use the bathroom there, except that it was packed and while shorter than the line for the ladies' room, there was still a line waiting to get into the men's room and I didn't feel like waiting. So, I walked around the lower portions of Central Park a bit, stopped on a park bench in some slight shade, with the sun peeking through some of the trees and cooled off a little. Even the fifteen minutes of walking before that were enough for me to get uncomfortably hot and sweaty. It stank of horse manure there, but was kind of fun watching people walk by and take photos of some rather uninteresting rock formations.
Once I realized I wasn't going to get any cooler at that spot I got up and started walking. I walked out of the park near the Plaza Hotel and the Apple Store, at 5th Avenue, then at 57th Street I cut across to 7th Avenue and caught the Q train down to 14th Street Union Square.
I got off there, in the mood for sushi at Shima in the East Village. It wasn't a long walk from Union Square there, but it was pretty hot out. I made my way mostly in the shade of buildings, and only out in the sun to cross streets.
Lunch was good. None of the usual waitresses were working today, so the service was a little more chaotic. There was one guy who I've seen before, I think behind the sushi bar, and he didn't seem too familiar with waiting tables, and another waitress who I've also seen before, but she didn't seem to be in the mood to wait tables or something. Both were polite, but not efficient or cheerful as usual. Still, the food was what I expected and afterwards I got two scoops of green tea ice cream. The waitress also brought me a cup of green tea that I thoroughly enjoyed as well at the end.
From there I walked up to 23rd Street and across to Madison Square Garden. It was jam packed with people and the first shady bench I found turned out to be too close to Jemmy's Dog Run, a place in the park for people to let their dogs run loose in a fenced in area (lots of New York City parks have these) so I got up and found another. But it turned out to only be shady when the occasional cloud blew over, and when the sky was clear it was hot... On the other hand, it was easier reading the iPad screen when the sun shone on it than when it shone on me.
I got up again and found another place, where I actually sat Saturday, and that was better. I read there for a while, as well as watched people, squirrels and birds... It was relaxing there... Another middle aged couple eventually came and sat on the bench next to me and read for a long time (the guy had a book I've been thinking about getting...)
Eventually I was getting hotter and hotter as the breeze faded, plus I had to use the bathroom and there isn't one that I know of in Madison Square Park, but I checked on the internet anyway, and didn't see one listed. So, I figured it was only 15 blocks up to 42nd Street and Grand Central Terminal, where there's also a shop, the New York City Transit Museum, with some artwork I keep planning on getting, but none of my wanderings have me ending up there at the end of the day.
So, I walked up. By the time I got up there the sweat was rolling off me and my clothes were uncomfortably abrasive from sweating... I used the bathroom but just missed the shop, which closed at 6pm, since I got there around 6:03pm or so... And they're not open tomorrow because the holiday... Ah well...
From there I wandered over to Bryant Park and sat in the shade to read for a little while, then got up and took the F train home from there. In Brooklyn, instead of getting off at the 9th Street & 4th Avenue station, then walking uphill, I took it one more station to 9th Street & 7th Avenue, so the walk was downhill, and about the same distance.
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Monday, Memorial Day...
Well, today was relaxed and interesting...
For a change I decided to wear the Birkenstocks Leena's mother got me in New York in 2007, but without socks. I can't wear my usual black ones without socks because the foot liner isn't suede so my feet make a horrible sounding and uncomfortable sucking sound with every step.
I got out the door around 11:30am or so, and dropped my rent check off at the mailbox on the way to the subway station, feeling like I left only partially dressed because of the missing socks...
I just missed an R train when I got down to the platform, but then an N train came, which doesn't usually stop at the 9th Street station. But there was no room to sit in the first two cars, and I didn't feel like standing all the way to Manhattan, so I skipped it and waited for the next R train, a few minutes more.
What luck, too... I couldn't make out the conductor's announcement clearly, but due to some incident, this particular R train was going to take a different route. At the next station, DeKalb Avenue, it was on the opposite side of the platform from where the R usually goes. And as luck would have it, on the track that goes past the artwork underground I keep wanting to see...
I got my camera ready and as we passed the lit up art I took a bunch of photos. Unfortunately, I don't think they came out well, though. It was more brightly lit inside the train, so it's mostly reflections off the window, and the window was fairly smudged, too... Oh well...After DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn, this R train followed an F route through lower Manhattan, which is very strange. I would've expected it to at least follow an N route, not an F. One guy who'd been wearing headphones got confused when we exited the tunnel onto the Manhattan Bridge and asked "I was wearing headphones, what was that announcement?" so I explained it.
Then at one of the stations, where the R normally does not go, a woman looked at the signs outside and the map near my seat and asked, "I thought this was the train to Whitehall?" and I explained to her that there was some incident and this particular R train was taking a weird route, but that the conductor was still calling it an "R train to Queens". I suggested she stay on it till it rejoined its regular route, then get on a Brooklyn bound R to get to Whitehall... When we got to 34th Street at Herald Square, I told her that was the best place for her to make the switch...
I got off the train there, too... I felt too stinky, sticky and sweaty to possibly go into Macy's and try on summer clothes, so I didn't. I did check out the Manhattan Mall shopping mall, but it was a pretty lousy place, not much in the way of interesting stores (e.g. no music store!)
I made my way down the streets to Madison Square Park where I walked around looking for a cool, shady bench, preferably closer to the middle, but no luck and I got one near the north end of the park.
I took out my book and read a bit... It was a book about travelers' tales from India. After a little bit some scruffy looking, heavily tattooed elderly guy in a wheelchair, being escorted by a young woman, asked "are you planning a trip to India?" I told him not right away, as I'd recently returned after about ten years there and was still thoroughly enjoying life back in the U.S. again... We chatted a bit. He'd never been farther from New York than New Orleans. When I mentioned still being kind of new to New York City he asked me how I liked the park, and reminisced about how it's been cleaned up over the years. He said when he used to be homeless he slept in that park for a couple of years. Eventually he said, "well, you return to your book, I'm just going to close my eyes here in the sunshine for a few minutes..." and dozed off...
After they left some college students came. One was a big, muscular black guy who took off his shirt a couple of times to flex his muscles and show off quite a few tattoos, the other was a long haired, fat white guy with a heavy metal t-shirt, spiked leather wristband, studded boots... Once they settled down they started drilling each other on their anatomy homework, about various joints in the body, which are unilateral, bilateral, trilateral, some stuff about the thumb joints and things... It sounded like they were preparing for a test or something in medical school...
I started getting hungry and got up to buy a pretzel from a vendor at the corner of the park (the line for the Shake Shack again had around 75-100 waiting, so I wasn't going to do that, though I really want to try it sometime). When I returned I'd lost my bench...
So I took another bench nearby. After a couple of bites of my relatively unsatisfying pretzel, a woman on the next bench asked "is that pretzel any good?" I told her it was only mediocre, not the worst I've had, but not really very good. She mentioned that she'd bought a cup of beer from the food fair across the street and she knew she shouldn't have it in park, but wasn't causing any trouble...
We ended up chatting for another hour or more, mostly about New York City, parks, computers, local food, dog walking and India. She mentioned going to college in the mid-70's so I guess she fifteen years older than us, or so. She took a year off then to live in India, staying mostly in villages to get "the authentic Indian experience" as she put it. She was curious for my descriptions of how India has changed since she was there.
She mentioned she used to be a writer, and had written a book about New York City's parks, but is now a professional dog walker to the wealthier people in Manhattan. At various times other people walking dogs greeted her when passing by, and she'd point them out as another professional dog walker. She said she has keys to apartments where many owners don't even know her last name, she's just "that weird lady with the green flour on her hat" that their building doormen recommend as a dog walker...
She was pleasant and friendly to chit chat with. But a little weird, in a not-quite-right manner... She was totally paranoid of the government and kept pointing out people in the park who were covert government agents. At one point a couple of guys came a bit closer than normal to photograph some squirrels that were actually being a bit cuter than normal, right behind the bench she was sitting on, then the guys drifted off... A little later she asked if I remembered the two black guys with the camera, and I said I did, but not that they were black or anything, just a couple of other tourists paying more attention to squirrels. She told me they were government agents and on the way over they'd flashed her with a "laser refractor" to hurt her eyes, and the squirrel photography was just their cover, to look like tourists...
She asked if I ever read science fiction novels, which I do. She said writers like Heinlein and Bradbury weren't just speculating on future things, like government control of citizens, but they were actually involved in it and had first hand knowledge. I asked if she'd ever read any books by Philip K. Dick, but she didn't recognize the name and agreed to look for some of his. Some good Philip K. Dick novels should blow her mind...
Around 4pm, I still hadn't eaten more than a few bites of my pretzel, that had gone totally stale and I didn't want any more of it, and I figured I should be heading back to Brooklyn, do laundry and all that... As I was walking away, she called me to come back for a moment, then she gave me advice on buying a pair of Birkenstock sandals with a strap at the back because she said I was walking funny...
From Madison Square Park at 27th Street I walked down to Union Square, then across 14th Street to catch the F train back to Brooklyn. I like returning on the F because I can take it one stop further and my walk home is all downhill.
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