Observations From A Bicoastal Family



Wednesday, July 23, 2014

The Trader Joe's Experience

One thing I did not quite anticipate when coming to 
New York City 
was the difficulty in obtaining food.

There's food on every corner.
There are numerous restaurants on each and every block.

What could I possibly mean by difficulty in obtaining food?

The scenario is this:
a family of six, living in Manhattan for 8 1/2 weeks, 
two of those six people are teenagers who do not stop eating (ever),  
and everyone of those six people need nourishing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The fruit stands, the hot dog stands, the nut stands, the frozen yogurt, the bagel shops, all of the restaurants cannot help the need for food every day for these six people.
We live in New York but we have a strong need to live in reality. 
Reality means grocery shopping and cooking food.

I know.  It is so harsh.

Grocery shopping consists of expensive stores scattered all over the place.
Stores like Gristedes, Hudson Produce, Fairway.... are all expensive. Not Hawaii expensive, but expensive nevertheless.

The other option you have is to shop online with FreshDirect, Instacart, 
Google Express, and Peapod (Amy told me about this one).
This option is really convenient and a little magical.

You put the food in your shopping cart and in a few hours they appear at your door.
Convenient but not realistic if you like looking and touching the fresh produce.

Enter: Trader Joe's.
Trader Joe's makes me feel happy and normal.


Well, almost normal.
The national pricing is real.  The layout of the stores are familiar and I like things that feel familiar.

The TJ Experience involves a lot of people and a lot of muscle work.
I've been to three of the stores since I've been here; those stores are on 72nd, 14th, and 22nd.

The pictures come from the store on 22nd... I like this store a lot.



The mantra when you enter the store should be, "If you buy it, you carry it."

You need to get your goods from the awesome store to your awesome apartment.
The practical side of me that I listen to when shopping says, "You take the subway because if you take a cab the groceries you bought just became a lot more expensive."

The Trader Joe's Experience starts when you approach the check out line.
It usually looks something like this...



There is an employee that sits at the front of the line like this...


And, like this...


Their job is specifically to keep the peace and make sure they send the next person in line to the right check stand.

At this TJ's there are actually 30 check stands.  
It's so overwhelming they need direction arrows.


The employees that work at the cash registers hold up a paddle when they are ready for the next customer.  It's  exciting when your number is given to you.


After you make the small talk and pay for the food, you are on your way.
On your way to a work out.

Your deodorant will be used at this point in the shopping experience.

Get yourself to the subway.
From this store and to my subway you walk one long block and one short block.
It's brilliant.
Up and down stairs, several flights some times.


Please notice the three flights and please notice that Heath is not carrying anything.
In his defense, he did carry them to the subway, just not on the other side of the subway.


It's an experience.
The experience is successful when you have two bags.
It's not so good if it goes into three bags.


I did not take pictures of the sweat dripping from my face and back.
Feel lucky if you can fill your trunk full of fresh produce and food from Trader Joe's,
turn the air conditioner on, and drive home.

The Trader Joe's Experience is something everyone should participate in.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

A Governor, An Assault, and Waffles to Make Everything Better

There's an island that sits about a half of a mile from the tip of Manhattan,
it's called Governor's Island.

It's a pretty cool, 176 acre island where you can bike ride, walk around, look over at the New York skyline, and participate in any of the activities that they have on the island.

We took our really short ferry ride over on "City Water Day," so the island had a lot of activities going on.





The island was occupied by the British during the Revolutionary War and played a significant role in the success of George Washington and those Yankees.  There was some war stuff that happened, including firing on the British before they were able to pounce on the Yankees.  It all worked out to the benefit of the Revolution.

At some point the island housed the US Coast Guard, not sure if it still does.
We weren't 100% sure if people still live on the island full-time because at one point there is a town-like setting.  Either way, this part of the island was really peaceful.









A giant kaleidoscope.  


Some parabolic science thing that Alec loved.



The question is: Where do you see yourself in the future?
Write in on the giraffe.


Plenty of love for the Earth with the 30,000 reclaimed plastic cups made into a canopy of sorts.




The hammocks were a nice surprise in the middle of a walkway lined with sunflowers, the Statue of Liberty on one side and, on the other side, Monster's University.




The views on the island were incredible and we enjoyed the break from the city.



Maybe we should have stuck with walking around. But we didn't just stick with our own two feet.
We rented bikes.
Heath doesn't know how to ride a bike yet, so we rented three bikes for the kids.

We rented and they were off and rolling.

This is where our Governor's Island trip took a turn for the worse.
The kids had been riding their bikes for just a few minutes when Scott got a phone call from Jenna.

The phone call went something like this:
"Dad, Ammon hit a kid with his bike.  The dad hit Ammon.  We don't know what to do."
There was a lot of panic and stress coming through the phone.
Stress and panic that I didn't hear because Scott walked away and then he was gone from view.

Apparently, Ammon, Jenna and Alec were riding around the fort.
As Ammon approached a family standing off to the side on the grass, he rang his bell several times
(we know details because he had his goPro on and he was wearing it on his head).

As he started to pass the family, their three year old ran out in front of Ammon.

The dad of the child began yelling instantly at Ammon, as their child was sitting on the ground, approached him, and then slapped across the face.  
It looks like he was really trying to hit the camera, but he missed and hit him in the face.

That was the reference to the assault.
Assault!

They started cussing Ammon out, Ammon was just apologizing and offered to help, there was a lot of emotion, and then Ammon turned the camera off.

The man and woman continued to scream at Ammon and threatened to "kill him" if he didn't leave.

It was insane.
People are insane.

Their child was crying.  They were screaming. They were screaming at Ammon, at each other, and at their other child. They looked at their other kid, as they continued to swear at Ammon, and informed that child that they didn't care how they were acting.

It was a mess.

Scott ironed everything out by going all New Yorker on the man and woman, as the security was involved by the time he arrived on the scene, and as our three kids were no longer there because they were afraid for their lives (remember they were told that they were going to be killed if they didn't leave).

I was oblivious to everything because I was with Heath on the hammocks.
Lucky me.
Seriously, lucky me.


After meeting up with the kids and assuring Ammon that everything was going to be fine, we continued with the day.

Heath riding a bike with Scott was pretty cute.






This is after the assault.  Emotions were high.
My emotions were high, and honestly, they are still a bit out of whack.
I want to prosecute.  

Seriously.
We have it on tape.




Ammon, still wondering what just happened.  Did he really run over a kid, get slapped by a crazy New Yorker, and screamed at by two negligent parents?
Yes, Ammon, that just happened.

Bring on the delicious wafels and dinges!!
I don't know what a dinges is.



This made everything better for about fifteen minutes.
Wafel, ice cream, and nutella.
The dinges: ice cream and nutella.


I have mixed emotions about Governor's Island.
I don't know if I ever want to go back.
Between the subway and that island my view of humanity is on the wane.




Friday, July 11, 2014

Alexander Hamilton's Customs House

Scott likes to tell the kids that nothing in New York is free.

Unfortunately, for Scott, that is not entirely true.

Alec, Heath, and I set out one morning on a search for shoes.
We found ourselves very sidetracked and wandering around the tip of Manhattan, 
specifically 1 Bowling Green.
To our surprise, we found the National Museum of the American Indian.

Entrance fee: Free!



This building was built in 1901-1907.  It is known as the Alexander Hamilton Customs House.
It sits on approximately the same site as Fort Amsterdam. 
 I'm not clear as to what year it stopped serving as the Customs House, but I believe it was in the 70's when the customs moved to a different building.  
This building currently holds the National Archives.

The architect is Cass Gilbert. Other architects/artists that worked on the sculptures are Daniel Chester French, Louis St. Gaudens, and Albert Jaegers.  The building and sculptures are enormous and beautiful.  The style is Beaux arts.

I can't possibly capture the beauty of this building, but here are some pictures of the outside sculptures representing America, Asia, Europe and Africa.







Inside, the building is just as amazing as the outside.  

The rotunda is representative of a Roman dome.



Heath is hanging out by the desks in the rotunda,
part of the customs area that served as the check-in.



After walking through the rotunda and learning about the customs house we went through the portion dedicated to the American Indian.  We were fascinated by all of the artifacts and the history and relevance the American Indian plays in our culture.


I was really taken with this Effigy.
I want Alec to make me a gourd that looks like this.




The interesting thing about this particular customs house is that it was built with its back to the harbor.
The building faces Bowling Green.

When we emerged from the seven story structure, we were greeted with baked goods and a small farmers market.  We found some Apple Cider Vinegar Donuts - not free.



Thank you, Alexander Hamilton for the free visit to the Customs House!