Quite Curious

appy Chinese New Year! Since I was stranded in New York for a few extra days due to the snowstorm, I was hoping that I would be able to get a glimpse of the Chinese New Year celebration in Chinatown. Unfortunately, it turned out that I missed the event, but New York’s Chinatown was so much fun anyway because it actually felt like I was in China! Unlike most Chinatowns, it wasn’t cute and kitschy, instead, this one actually felt a place people worked and played in.

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New York

New York doesn’t feel that crowded until you get to Chinatown. There were so many people out and about, considering it was the freezing outside (literally). It was the coldest day I was in New York. I finally gave up after having lunch there, and scurried back to the warm hotel.

I enjoyed going down some of the smaller streets off the main strip in search of good food - which wasn’t hard to find.

There were several shops selling peculiar dried fruits and herbs. We walked into a “candy store” to find one shelf with a selection of Pocky, and the rest of the store dedicated to selling dried seafood. But I admit, I do like things like spicy dried squid, as strange as it looks (and smells).

Maybe it was crowded because of Chinese New Year, which was the next day. Too bad I missed the parade.

This is the most shrimp I’ve ever seen in my life! Eating out in New York for a week started to bring on uncontrollable fruit and vegetable cravings. We went all over NYC in search of a grocery store, only to find drugstores selling a few bunches of bruised bananas near the counter. But what we should have done was go to Chinatown! Of course! Chinese people are always eating.

There were throngs of people buying and selling flowers - maybe in preparation for Chinese New Year?

I love the pillowy soft texture of Asian bread. I had to stop by the bakeries, they all smelled so good.

Mike’s favorite - deep fried sesame balls, made from rice flour and filled with red bean paste. Yum!

Left: The guy on the left was selling belts. The sign said, “Keep Your Pants Up”. Ha. Right: You’ve seen street artists doing these name paintings all the time, but this guy was particularly good. (Full photo)

Long Yeah Restaurant

We wanted to eat at some of the well known restaurants in the area, but the lines at the popular spots were horrendous. So we ended up going to a place on the corner called “Long Yeah Restaurant”. I wasn’t sure if the “Yeah” was a bad translation, or if the name was spelled wrong and was supposed to be “Long Year”.

If it was the latter, then the name was appropriate. The wait for each dish felt about a year long. We were there for an hour and a half waiting on 4 small appetizers altogether cost $10. We ended up canceling the rest of our order and leaving.

One of the things we ordered was soup dumplings. But that doesn’t mean they’re cooked in soup - instead they’re cooked with soup in them. It’s pretty neat.

These were the best scallion pancakes I’ve ever had. They were light yet crunchy.

Some sort of deep-fried red bean pastry. It was delicious.

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