As I’m settling into NY, I find that I’m eating out less as a tourist with my DSLR. I’m eating in more by buying groceries to save money. Getting groceries is a very different beast in NY than elsewhere. In this mega-urban setting, it’s popular to order groceries online or pay for delivery service at the store. If I buy something, I have to physically carry it back – as in walk it all the way back to my residence. Contrast this to anywhere else where you simply load up loads of food in your car. This makes getting milk, juice, or enough food to last a week annoying.
There is also a distinct lack of generic supermarkets. As in Safeway, Lucky’s, Costco, etc. Real estate is simply too expensive to find large supermarket chains with even larger parking lots in front. There are Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s scattered around the city, but they have their weaknesses. There are also small mom & pop corner shops, but the selection is not as convenient as a supermarket. Have you ever waited an hour in line at Trader Joe’s? Even Whole Foods can easily have a half hour line zig-zagging throughout the store. The other downside to not having generic supermarkets (such as Safeway) is that you can’t get cheap nationwide brand name staples like cereal, snacks, frozen foods, etc. Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods carry their own private labeled food for good or for worse.
All this above is my way to say that I haven’t been posting much on this blog. With the weather getting nicer, I should be out more and able to take more pictures. This is a good thing.
Note that I’ve disabled comments for this blog. For the time being, I don’t need hundreds of dead-obvious link spam comments piling up each hour. And to think, this isn’t what I would consider a trafficked blog.