The 'Hood

I've always been told that to start a story the setting must always be established... In order for most to understand the decisions I make when it comes to buying ingredients and organizing my day, it's important to also know where I come from, so to speak... New York City is big... really big! Many think that New York is the island of Manhattan, but there is so much more to it than that.. it is after all only one out of five boroughs... I live in the biggest borough, Brooklyn. When you drive into Brooklyn from Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge there is a sign that says Fughedaboutit... That could give you a hint to the charm of the borough. I live quite far, relatively speaking, from Manhattan... about 45 minutes to an hour on the subway. I think most outerborough-ites make that commute, if not longer.. New York has quite a few Chinatowns.. I live in the smallest out of all of them, but New York has many Asians to go around so not so small, ok, respek! Here's a neighborhood shot:

A small stretch of Avenue U, the main thoroughfare in my Chinatown.

I love my neighborhood... I love that I can get fresh ingredients, that most everything is affordable and practical, that English may be the third or fourth language heard, that if I can't find something in one place, I can walk two doors down and find it there -- this last point explains why I felt compelled to show a pic of the main street on which I do my food shopping.
The 'supermarket' all the way on the left is really more like a mini-supermarket... It has your basic pantry ingredients and lots of canned goods and is also where I pick up Rafa's Stella Artois (muy necesaria!). They also never card me -- score! But, it doesn't have any fresh produce worth mentioning
A couple of doors down is the grocery store I frequent (with the red awning) -- I honestly never remember the name of it, I just always call it 'the grocery store'. They always have the fresh herbs I need and veggies and fruit. Here I get my milk, Rafa's bread rolls, and freshly grated parmesan... But I never, ever get basil or arugula (rocket)... I can't even begin to tell you how gross it is here.. For these I need to make a trip to the nearest Stop 'n' Shop, which I can't tell you what a pain in the arse it is to get to when one doesn't have a car... I pray for the day when they will start a delivery service. Hehe, what a lazy ass I am!
As the blog goes on I hope to give write more neighborhood anecdotes... There's not much exciting going on here at the moment... There is a smaller mini-supermarket (miniscule??) that opened up even closer to my building. I've already established they don't have beer... but that may be because they opened up two days ago... yes, I know, I'm quick...
Going through Cupboard Love, I noticed that most ingredients are incredibly easy to get.. I'm happiest about this because the less effort I put in sourcing ingredients, the more keen I will be to make a recipe at this point and time.. It's the phase in my life right now, and the reason I am starting this project, where I just can't be arsed... Here's when I say wassup to my Brit friends for introducing me to such quaint phrases ;)