New York - Day 2

Day 2 of 7 and it didn't disappoint. As planned, today was shopping day. We had big plans to get up early with the parents and try to adjust to Eastern time but that just wasn't happening. By 8:15 it was already hot and I had a restless night full of strange dreams. So at 10:30 we tried the whole getting up thing again, me from my bed in Angela's old room, and Sam from his childhood bed in his old room. While this sounds like an unexciting arrangement for a 20-something couple on vacation, there is really something to be said for having your own bed when the night time low temperature is in the mid-70s.

After we were up and washed it was time for the long trek into the city. I had heard tale of the seemingly endless journey that is Coney Island to Manhattan, but I could never fully comprehend what that meant...until today.

Step 1: Walk to bus stop. Not horrible by any means. Two short blocks and there you are. What did throw me somewhat was the abundance of Dollar Cabs. Until today, I'm not sure I'd ever heard those words coupled. The premise of the dollar cab is that for $1-$2 a town car will take you from the bus stop to the train station, because the bus is not particularly reliable and, let's face it, everyone just wants to get to the train. I'm somewhat fascinated by these dollar cabs because there were quite a number of them going back and forth and it really seemed like a lot of competition for something that 1) competes with public transportation, and 2) arose out of seemingly mere annoyance and sometimes inconvenience. I mean, I get how it happens and great for everyone involved, I just could never see something like this happening in San Francisco. (Or does it already happen somewhere and I just don't know it??)

Step 2: Wait for bus. This would have been better had we not just missed one, but it also wasn't awful compared to the ungodly amounts of time I've spent waiting for the 52 or 33. But again, watching all the dollar cabs was somewhat strange, if not a little fascinating.

Step 2.5: And this is totally optional--Walk to boardwalk and walk on the beach. I've never been to the boardwalk at Coney Island and I could smell the beach as soon as we stepped out of the house so I just had to go. It was basically as expected, if not a little bit cheaper. Maybe it says something awful about me or the city I live in or the places I go, but I can't help but get a little excited when I see bottled water being sold for $1. Good for you Coney Island vendors! Oh but both the high and low point was seeing the hot dog vending machine. And not some fancy Japanese one that is probably self stocking, cooking and cleaning. But just a regular, old looking, probably will eat your dollar and give you E. coli vending machine. I can't help but wonder under what circumstances one would choose the hot dog vending machine over an extra half-block's walk to Nathan's or any number of places, or would walk the extra half-block past the boardwalk, which is of course lined with all types of food vendors.

Step 3: Go up stairs to board train. This is all very simple and straightforward. Except that it's not if you're not paying attention and all the tracks look a like and all the walkways look like they go to the same place but they don't. But other than that it's fine and MTA workers were actually mopping out all of the cars before the train left. (It's the end of the line.)

Step 4: Ride train for a very long time. I stress that this is a very long time. About 20 minutes or so into the ride I asked, "Do we have much farther to go?" thinking that surely it can't be that much farther. Trains are fast and the stops aren't that close together. We must've covered some good ground by now. Sam's response: "Yes. 20 or 30 minutes." Me: Aghast at what lay ahead of us and starting to feel hunger kick in. After any number of unfamiliar subway stops (and a few familiar ones.. thanks The National) and a whopping 50+ minutes, we finally reached Canal Street. Oh sweet, sweet Canal Street. I've never been so happy to see you.

Step 5: Because Chinatown was not our final destination, we hopped another train and headed slightly uptown, only to be foiled by the express train and have to talk back downtown. This was fast and relatively painless, but when all was said and done it felt like hours since we had left the house.

Our first destination of the day (and arguably the most important of the entire trip) was Je'bon. In the year and one month since I was last in New York, I have craved, absolutely craved the Satay Beef noodles. I've been worried that I've built up this bowl of noodles so high that it could never be as good as I remember (a la steak cubes in Chinatown). My fears were of course put to rest with that first spoonful of satay brothy goodness. Yelp reviews be damned. I always have and always will love Je'bon. Sam and I both had satay beef as it's probably the best thing on the whole damn menu, and we also split an order of Smiley Buns to start. It's comprised of a Peking Duck style bun filled with roasted pork belly instead of duck, with a slice of green onion and a slice of cucumber, and the ever delicious plum sauce on the side for dipping. In my opinion, the smiley bun is named not only for it's shape and appearance, but also for the smile it brings to my face when I eat it and think about it. The bun is exactly the right texture and density and the pork belly is oh-so fatty and delicious. Generally speaking, I hate the texture of fat. It feels gross in my mouth and just doesn't do anyhting for me. At first glance, I wasn't sure how this was all going to go down (even though I've had it before, but a long time ago). To my utter delight, it was melty and drippy in all of the right ways. The actual meat portion was tender and tasty and it was all quite lovely together. Very smiley. As for the noodles, I have to say again, they did not disappoint. It is arguably the best bowl of noodles I have ever had in my entire life. And I've had a lot of noodles. The broth is flavorful and thick, slightly spicy and not overly salty. The ramen noodles are perfectly dense and tasty, the beef is tender and oozing with flavor and the added veg makes for a perfect balance. My only gripe, not enough noodles! Yes, as full as I was, I wanted more. They're just that good.

After Je'bon it was time for the shopping portion of the day. That meant a walk to SoHo and a trip to Uniqlo and any other store I felt like going into despite being able to shop at it's chain store counterpart in San Francisco. Sam was successful, scoring a pair of jeans, a button-down, a sweater vest, four pairs of socks, and a much needed fourth hoodie. I gave their jeans a shot but just wasn't into them enough, despite the half-off sale. We pushed on and when all was said and done I came out of it all with a non-hoodie sweatshirt and a summer/fall jacket that is now too light to wear in SF, as I'm told it's nothing but cold and gloom there at the moment.

We ended the trip with much needed popsicles from Mr. Softee-wannabe truck (Mr. Softee drove away from us. We tried, but he left us) and then began the arduous journey back to Coney Island. I have to say, a Bullet really makes the trip much more enjoyable.

We came home for yet another yummy mommy dinner and some yummy fruit for dessert. (The lesson for tonight: Kiwis are really a Chinese fruit but they were exported and then perfected in New Zealand... who knew...) Then I passed out on the couch, we Skyped for a while, something something email and this blog, and so ends day 2.

Tomorrow: Kati Roll and Boba Dave's big break.