Sunday, August 30, 2009

BAJG in The Big Apple

I know that this blog often focuses on all things HRH (His Royal Hotness) and his merry band of men. But, there is actually more to my life than just "the boys." For instance, I happen to live in the greatest city in the universe (not my line, I stole that from the aforementioned ...)

One thing about New Yorkers is we live a bit "differently" ... for example, our food groups aren't quite the same as everyone else - ours are eat-in, carry-out, delivery and packaged. Most NYers don't really cook - we assemble and we microwave ... and on a very special day (usually once or twice a year) we actually turn on the oven. For that reason, our grocery stores here tend to be a bit different as well.

In addition to Zabar's (see previous post, Fast-Food NY Style) we have this wonderful miracle called Fairway. Their tagline is "Like No Other Market" ... and it really is true. So, today, after an hour or so of sitting by the river watching the boats go by (one of my favorite New York activities) I decided to do a little grocery shopping. Good considering all I really had in the cabinet was dill and peanut butter!

It had been some time since I was in the Fairway by me (uptown - Harlem) and forgot how absolutely chaotic it can be ... for instance, how after you get your cart, you end up "parking" it in the deli section while you walk around the store picking up what you need and returning back to your cart every once in a while to drop things in. Or how the cheese and olive section is so overwhelming you can just stand there for hours trying to figure out which of the 250 cheeses you'd like (Queenie, of course I ended up with some havarti LOL.)

But, my favorite is "the cold room" ... the incredibly huge room that serves as a giant refrigerator where they keep all the dairy, meat, beers, soda, etc. Just imagine a whole floor of your house as a walk-in refrigerator, complete with literally 5 AISLES of different milk products - organic, non-organic, soy, lactose-free, flavored, non-flavored, anything you could possibly want or need -- all in small, medium and large sizes. On a really hot day it probably feels pretty nice to walk around in there, but it can get downright frosty! Good thing the nice folks at Fairway have these "beautiful" grey puffy jackets hanging on hooks by the door so you can grab one before you go in! :-)

So, what does this all have to do with Jon Bon Jovi? Well, nothing ... except that I hope that even though his lifestyle is a bit different than the typical Manhattanite, that he has the opportunity to experience a little slice of Big Apple life. It really is "like no other" ...

P.S. Oh after all that ... what's for dinner? Olives, cheese, grapes, salad and some challah. And for dessert, a personal favorite - raspberry Cabernet sorbet. (I know a particular Fiction Mistress who would like that ...)