Adventure Time with Kat and Kam: the East Village, Lower East Side, and Chinatown

Filed under adventure time, creepy boyfriend obsession, just pictures, living in new york is neat

Kamran and I had no plan in mind for this walk but to drink some bubble tea and to eat some noodles at Xi’an Famous Foods, which is beloved by Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern and which we’ve talked about visiting approximately every five seconds of our five-year relationship. It was closed that day for no apparent reason, but at least we still got our bubble tea.

I know I’ve shown you versions of this next picture ten times already, but walking out of his building and seeing this against the sky just never fails to make me think, “This is New York City! I LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY!” The architecture in Tudor City is unmatched for me, as much as I love the glass-and-steel highrises in newer parts of the city. I think it’s because it makes me think of 55 Central Park West, the Ghostbusters building:

East Side, NYC

East Side, NYC

East Side, NYC

Kamran in Tudor City, being gorgeous:

East Side, NYC

The Chrysler Building, also being gorgeous:

East Side, NYC

Kamran outside of Thirstea in the East Village, where we stopped for bubble teas. He got honeydew, because he always gets honeydew, and I got Pixy Stix, because like there was any way I could resist that:

East Side, NYC

I always think this sign is going to say “Burger King”. It does not:

East Side, NYC

We went to Economy Candy and bought chocolate-covered s’mores and ate them in a park with a camel statue in it:

East Side, NYC

This thing actually tastes better than it looks. And it looks like The Best Thing Ever, soooooo . . .

East Side, NYC

Kinda want this sign painted on the gate over a store’s window to be recreated on my bedroom wall:

East Side, NYC

East Side, NYC

Kamran and I took pictures in front of this graffitied building just because it looks badass, and when I Googled 90 Bowery just to see what it used to be, I thought the place had been turned into condos. Then I realized that the sign actually says 190 Bowery and tried that instead. It turns out that HOLY SHIT, THIS IS SOMEONE’S HOUSE.

It’s a 72-room, six-story, 35,000-square-foot former bank that a photographer bought in the 60s for $100k and turned into a studio/gallery/home. That was back when the Bowery was known for drugs, prostitution, and rent-by-the-week apartments with a shared bathroom in the hallway where you were likely to get stabbed. And now it’s worth $35 million. But it’s priceless to those of us who need graffiti to look cool.

East Side, NYC

We stopped at Banh Mi Saigon so Kamran could have his first of the famous Vietnamese sandwiches:

East Side, NYC

You know it’s more authentic than Paris Sandwich down the street both because it has Saigon in the name and because it’s hidden in the back of a store behind a jewelry counter.

East Side, NYC

Notice the daze in Kamran’s eyes and the crumbs on his lips:

East Side, NYC

Just a bucket of frogs in Chinatown:

East Side, NYC

My second bubble tea of the day, an Oreo one from Bubbly Tea. Wait, I’m sorry. Did you see that I said it was an OREO BUBBLE TEA? One person should not live a life this decadent:

East Side, NYC

We stopped at Malaysia Beef Jerky next to buy pounds and pounds of what is totally not beef jerky at all but bakkwa, which is grilled so that it’s not so hard and chewy. It’s a little saucy, too, so we refer to it as “that wet beef jerky”, usually in a redneck accent:

East Side, NYC

This is a shrimpy pork jerky, because Kamran likes gross things.

East Side, NYC

Kamran looking a little bit lonely and lost with his bubble tea and bag of jerky:

East Side, NYC

Billy’s Antiques & Props closed a year or so ago, and we found it so fitting that the only thing that remains is a coffin in the midst of debris:

East Side, NYC

And some more pretty buildings to bring us back full circle:

East Side, NYC

East Side, NYC

Wouldn’t you just die to live on the upper floor of a building like that? I’m sure those apartments are just as awful as any other New York apartment, but they sure seem special.

ADVENTURE TIME!

15 Comments

  1. Sounds like such a fun day! That jerky looks disgusting, btw.

  2. Erin says:

    I heart your photos. And now I need bubble tea and banh mi — that jerky can go straight to hell, especially the shrimp one. Are you going to blogher this year? I’m not but since you’re in NY thought mayhaps you were.

  3. Elliepie says:

    This is pretty much what happens when Beckett and I go on walks in Aynor on weekends, except we go to China Wok for Crab Rangoon, Ned’s burgers for some “wayngs”, and Bagnall’s Pharmacy for a $2 pimento cheese sandwich.

    Same/same.

  4. Cassie says:

    I’VE BEEN TO CHINATOWN BEFORE!

  5. Jessica R. says:

    Yay! Photos of you!

    I love when you do these posts. Also, I need Oreo bubble tea in my life. And that sandwich.

  6. Lisa says:

    OREO BUBBLE TEA OMG.

    And those frogs are kinda weirding me out.

  7. Tracey says:

    I will have that Michael Jackson song in my head ALL day, thanks to that gate sign.

    I wonder if living in NYC would get me out on some “adventures”, or if I’d still spend my entire weekend indoors watching Netflix.

  8. Ash says:

    Ok you need to take me to that bubble tea place. And Artichoke.

  9. Megan says:

    Oreo and pixy stix bubble tea? I want!

    This is what I miss about living in a big city (I’m from San Francisco)… everywhere you go you find something new, whether it’s a bucket of frogs or a cool building. It’s an adventure each time you leave the house. Unlike the small Florida town we’re in, where the only new thing I see each day is a mullet and bad tans.

  10. Oh, MAN, that s’more looks so good right now. Almost good enough for me to go into the kitchen and try to make one. But not quite, for I am lazy.

  11. ugh, katie i want to eat all of this food.

  12. bybee says:

    Gorgeous pictures, especially the food. I think I need to move to Seoul. It’s not New York City, but it wishes it were. I wish it were, too.

    • katie ett says:

      Do it! One of my friends is teaching English in Seoul right now and says the only disappointment is the lack of bread in the grocery stores.

  13. Beautiful work (as always, U.M.), but…
    you are right outside my ‘summer home’ taking all these spectacular shots and you don’t even come in to say hello?! What the *beep*?!
    ;)