Day Two, Tuesday, 4 October 2005 – Chelsea Market and The Village
We wake up at 4.30 to go to the loo. I’m wide awake but force myself to get back to bed. We wake again at 7 and Yogi makes a call back home from a street phone booth. We walk several streets before hitting Chelsea Market where we have breakfast at Ruthy’s Bakery and Café, which sells mostly sandwiches, bagels, muffins and cake. We share a huge peach muffin (US$1.95 = S$3.26). I get a medium tea (US$1.15 = S$1.92) while Yogi gets a delicious hot chocolate (US$1.38 = S$3.05).
After breakfast, we explore Chelsea Market. There are a few gourmet supermarkets here, stocking a great range of pasta, sauces, cheeses, vegetables, fruit and baking ingredients. I can see myself totally going crazy in one of these! What’s interesting is they sell marzipan fruits and sauces of industrial amounts. We also check out a cookie shop with the most beautifully iced cookies and cupcakes. The shop displays are very eye-catching and they’re all geared up for Halloween with pumpkin and ghost cookies. There’s also the famous Fat Witch Brownie shop, but the staff were quite snobbish when I asked if I could take a picture of a poster. I decided against buying a Fat Witch magnet even though it was really cute. The poster I wanted to snap had Oprah on it saying that the Fat Witch brownie tin contains 23 brownies. If one devours all the brownies, one will be a fat witch, she says. Fat Witch was featured in some newspaper/mag for inventing a brownie with peppermint chips on top. There’s a promotion going on with Wicked the musical (about The Wizard of Oz).
We leave Chelsea Market about 10.20 to head to the Village (New Yorkers call it the Village while tourists know it as Greenwich). On the way there, we meet an old man named Cosmos Sarchiapone, who composes operas and has published some books. He also dabbles with photography. Cosmos asked if we were lost and where we came from. He was pretty fascinated with us and wanted to feature us as one of the “interesting people” in his next photography book. Cosmos took us to Westbeth, a building in which artists, writers and dancers work. He also brought us up to the 11th floor where the world’s first sound film was screened (invented in 1927). He left us his contact and asked us to meet up with him before we left New York. A pretty obscure experience but cool nonetheless. Cosmos is so bohemian! He dresses like it’s winter (four layers including scarf and coat) even though it’s warm enough to wear a sleeveless top and denim skirt. He’s also got funky purple glasses with cheap Swarovski-like studs in the shape of a heart on the left lens, which he proudly claims were “made in China”.
We part our ways and come across a pretty tree-lined street with a beautiful U-shaped china-like door. Here we snap some photos and then hit some shops. The beginning of my shopping spree, and this is my first day walking around in New York! I get a pair of Levi’s ripped jeans (US$31.30 = S$52.27). Very good value and the best pair of jeans I have owned in my life!
We have lunch at Bari’s—pizza with pesto, sundried tomatoes and mozzarella (about US$12 = S$20.04 per person). One of the best wood-fired thin crust pizzas I’ve tasted in my life! After lunch the shopping spree continues, with the following conquests: a suede hot pink handbag from Ann Taylor (US$21.66 = S$36.17), an ethnic skirt (US$10 = S$16.70) and khaki jacket (US$30 = S$50.10) from Mystique Boutique at Broadway. We check out makeup heaven Selora (the range is amazing!) which has Hard Candy lip gloss in key chains and lollipop shaped containers, 12 lip glosses in a kit and 6 or more eyeshadow colours in a pot.
We check out Dean and Deluca, the place where Felicity worked. It’s actually a gourmet supermarket and reminds me very much of Harrod’s Food Hall in London. Yogi buys some fat and juicy Deep Dive scallops (US$13 = S$21.71 per pound) for a snack. I manage to snap pictures of the cake and coffee counter before the “bouncer” stops me.
We’re a little tired from the walking by now (and both my sneakers’ soles have cracked and split!), so we decide to head to the subway and get back to the hostel to rest. On the way to the subway, we get persuaded by a soap-hawking salesman to enter Sabon (Hebrew for soap). The salesgirl gets us to try washing our hands with body scrub made from sea salt crystals and other natural ingredients. I choose lemon and Yogi chooses coffee. Our hands are incredibly soft and smooth after the wash (the tap is automated by a foot peddle, how cool is that!) and they smell really good! The salesgirl slaps on hand lotion to complete the “hand spa” trial. The body scrub is expensive at US$24 per jar. I decide to get 2 bars of rose petal soap instead (US$13.66 = S$22.81), as the smell is simply irresistible! The salesgirls are really friendly in Sabon and ask us about Singapore. One of them wore a really pretty vintage turquoise dress which she bought for only US$20! She told us to go to 7th, 8th and 9th Streets in the East Village for cheap vintage clothing. I’m really excited when I hear this and resolve to head there for more wallet burning!
We head back to the hostel for a rest before going out for dinner. Yogi is so knocked out she only gets up at 9pm after I wake her at 7.30, 8 and 8.30.
Dinner is at 24-hour New Venus Diner. We have matzo ball soup and tenderloin beef salad with mandarin oranges and walnuts (US$6 = S$10.02 each). Matzo is a grain and matzo ball is a matzo dough ball (tastes like soggy rice). We are served by a good looking very gay waiter named Yixael. He has a hard time describing matzo ball soup to us and flirts with a gay group sitting just next to us. We are very amused by their conversation and by the number of good looking men walking past the diner (1 every 15 mins according to Yogi).
I ask Yixael if we could take a picture together and he is delighted. He cuddles up to me to pose and we have a real campy time.
On the way back to the hostel I grab a bottle of mineral water and Timeout New York to check out if there’s any exciting thing we must do within the next few days. We hit the bed by 12.
Total daily expenditure
Breakfast at Ruthy’s Bakery & café-half a peach muffin = S$1.62
tea (US$1.15) = S$1.92
Levi’s ripped jeans (US$31.30) = S$52.27
Lunch at Bari’s—pizza with pesto, sundried tomatoes and mozzarella (US$12) = S$20.04
Ann Taylor suede hot pink handbag (US$21.66) = S$36.17
Mystique Boutique ethnic skirt (US$10) = S$16.70
Mystique Boutique khaki jacket (US$30) = S$50.10
2 bars of rose petal soap from Sabon (US$13.66) = S$22.81
Dinner at New Venus Diner-matzo ball soup and tenderloin beef salad with mandarin oranges and walnuts (US$6) = S$10.02
big bottle of mineral water (US$2.79) = S$4.66
Timeout New York magazine (US$2.99) = S$4.99
Total = S$221.30
After breakfast, we explore Chelsea Market. There are a few gourmet supermarkets here, stocking a great range of pasta, sauces, cheeses, vegetables, fruit and baking ingredients. I can see myself totally going crazy in one of these! What’s interesting is they sell marzipan fruits and sauces of industrial amounts. We also check out a cookie shop with the most beautifully iced cookies and cupcakes. The shop displays are very eye-catching and they’re all geared up for Halloween with pumpkin and ghost cookies. There’s also the famous Fat Witch Brownie shop, but the staff were quite snobbish when I asked if I could take a picture of a poster. I decided against buying a Fat Witch magnet even though it was really cute. The poster I wanted to snap had Oprah on it saying that the Fat Witch brownie tin contains 23 brownies. If one devours all the brownies, one will be a fat witch, she says. Fat Witch was featured in some newspaper/mag for inventing a brownie with peppermint chips on top. There’s a promotion going on with Wicked the musical (about The Wizard of Oz).
We leave Chelsea Market about 10.20 to head to the Village (New Yorkers call it the Village while tourists know it as Greenwich). On the way there, we meet an old man named Cosmos Sarchiapone, who composes operas and has published some books. He also dabbles with photography. Cosmos asked if we were lost and where we came from. He was pretty fascinated with us and wanted to feature us as one of the “interesting people” in his next photography book. Cosmos took us to Westbeth, a building in which artists, writers and dancers work. He also brought us up to the 11th floor where the world’s first sound film was screened (invented in 1927). He left us his contact and asked us to meet up with him before we left New York. A pretty obscure experience but cool nonetheless. Cosmos is so bohemian! He dresses like it’s winter (four layers including scarf and coat) even though it’s warm enough to wear a sleeveless top and denim skirt. He’s also got funky purple glasses with cheap Swarovski-like studs in the shape of a heart on the left lens, which he proudly claims were “made in China”.
We part our ways and come across a pretty tree-lined street with a beautiful U-shaped china-like door. Here we snap some photos and then hit some shops. The beginning of my shopping spree, and this is my first day walking around in New York! I get a pair of Levi’s ripped jeans (US$31.30 = S$52.27). Very good value and the best pair of jeans I have owned in my life!
We have lunch at Bari’s—pizza with pesto, sundried tomatoes and mozzarella (about US$12 = S$20.04 per person). One of the best wood-fired thin crust pizzas I’ve tasted in my life! After lunch the shopping spree continues, with the following conquests: a suede hot pink handbag from Ann Taylor (US$21.66 = S$36.17), an ethnic skirt (US$10 = S$16.70) and khaki jacket (US$30 = S$50.10) from Mystique Boutique at Broadway. We check out makeup heaven Selora (the range is amazing!) which has Hard Candy lip gloss in key chains and lollipop shaped containers, 12 lip glosses in a kit and 6 or more eyeshadow colours in a pot.
We check out Dean and Deluca, the place where Felicity worked. It’s actually a gourmet supermarket and reminds me very much of Harrod’s Food Hall in London. Yogi buys some fat and juicy Deep Dive scallops (US$13 = S$21.71 per pound) for a snack. I manage to snap pictures of the cake and coffee counter before the “bouncer” stops me.
We’re a little tired from the walking by now (and both my sneakers’ soles have cracked and split!), so we decide to head to the subway and get back to the hostel to rest. On the way to the subway, we get persuaded by a soap-hawking salesman to enter Sabon (Hebrew for soap). The salesgirl gets us to try washing our hands with body scrub made from sea salt crystals and other natural ingredients. I choose lemon and Yogi chooses coffee. Our hands are incredibly soft and smooth after the wash (the tap is automated by a foot peddle, how cool is that!) and they smell really good! The salesgirl slaps on hand lotion to complete the “hand spa” trial. The body scrub is expensive at US$24 per jar. I decide to get 2 bars of rose petal soap instead (US$13.66 = S$22.81), as the smell is simply irresistible! The salesgirls are really friendly in Sabon and ask us about Singapore. One of them wore a really pretty vintage turquoise dress which she bought for only US$20! She told us to go to 7th, 8th and 9th Streets in the East Village for cheap vintage clothing. I’m really excited when I hear this and resolve to head there for more wallet burning!
We head back to the hostel for a rest before going out for dinner. Yogi is so knocked out she only gets up at 9pm after I wake her at 7.30, 8 and 8.30.
Dinner is at 24-hour New Venus Diner. We have matzo ball soup and tenderloin beef salad with mandarin oranges and walnuts (US$6 = S$10.02 each). Matzo is a grain and matzo ball is a matzo dough ball (tastes like soggy rice). We are served by a good looking very gay waiter named Yixael. He has a hard time describing matzo ball soup to us and flirts with a gay group sitting just next to us. We are very amused by their conversation and by the number of good looking men walking past the diner (1 every 15 mins according to Yogi).
I ask Yixael if we could take a picture together and he is delighted. He cuddles up to me to pose and we have a real campy time.
On the way back to the hostel I grab a bottle of mineral water and Timeout New York to check out if there’s any exciting thing we must do within the next few days. We hit the bed by 12.
Total daily expenditure
Breakfast at Ruthy’s Bakery & café-half a peach muffin = S$1.62
tea (US$1.15) = S$1.92
Levi’s ripped jeans (US$31.30) = S$52.27
Lunch at Bari’s—pizza with pesto, sundried tomatoes and mozzarella (US$12) = S$20.04
Ann Taylor suede hot pink handbag (US$21.66) = S$36.17
Mystique Boutique ethnic skirt (US$10) = S$16.70
Mystique Boutique khaki jacket (US$30) = S$50.10
2 bars of rose petal soap from Sabon (US$13.66) = S$22.81
Dinner at New Venus Diner-matzo ball soup and tenderloin beef salad with mandarin oranges and walnuts (US$6) = S$10.02
big bottle of mineral water (US$2.79) = S$4.66
Timeout New York magazine (US$2.99) = S$4.99
Total = S$221.30
posted by goddazz at 10:50 PM
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