Every day I wake up and get options paralysis thinking about all the possibilities of the day. Then I hit upon a plan and get excited to get started. Then I remember my boss is a vegetarian who also thinks gluten is the devil so all she has in her apartment for breakfast is this god-awful organic oatmeal and that Greek yogurt stuff. Yeah, yeah, I understand that American yogurt is all sugared up and this is what natural yogurt tastes like, but the first time I had it I ended up frantically searching the container for the expiration date because I was convinced it had gone bad. I never found the date but since there were no adverse side effects, I'm guessing it's still okay. The daily consideration of my free but horrifying breakfast options kind of puts a damper on my morning.
Listen to me, complaining about free food -- oh how things have changed.
I haven't bought my subway pass yet (procrastination in the name of cheapness lives on!), so today I just walked for a billion hours. I went to St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was awesome and beautiful. Across the street I accidentally stumbled upon Rockefeller Center, but I'm saving that for another day/night, depending on how I feel that day about being mugged. Because I am secretly a ten-year-old girl I also went to the American Girl store on 5th Avenue. It was like a store/museum of all the dolls and stories. I used to read about it every month in the magazine when I was kid, but now it's officially real. I was definitely the only person unaccompanied by a child on the premises, but what can I say -- I'm a nerrrrrrd.
One of these things is not like the other...
After that, I went on a guided history tour of Union Square led by a historian/ teacher woman, which was really cool despite the ever-looming danger of sunburn from walking around any open spaces in the summer. I put my plastic Wal-mart lunch bag over the back of my neck, figuring accurately that with all the crazy fashion and generally crazy people all around, no one is ever looking at me. I think that is what I like most about cities: anonymity and freedom to be/look/act however you want, because everyone is preoccupied with more important things.
Union Square is the open area you cannot see in this picture,
because it is filled with people for the Farmers' Market.
Anyway, after learning all about the statues and fountains, I had to come home and collapse for awhile, then make dinner. My lack of culinary skills becomes even more apparent and disastrous when all I have to work with is food I'm not familiar with. I fried some Trader Joe's Sausageless Italian Sausage and threw some kidney beans in the pan with it. Clearly I need someone to look after me. Like everywhere I've encountered in NY, the stove is gas and thus I have no frame of reference for how long things should cook. The directions on the back of the package were unnecessarily complicated as well and I almost had a breakdown yelling "Trader Joe's? More like Traitor Joe's!!" when the pan started smoking after I tried so hard to follow the 'cook on medium heat for five minutes, turning every minute' step.
After that I felt obligated to go to the bakery down the street and procure an overpriced cupcake to settle my nerves. It was a mistake: everything in there looks good, but after Gigi's nothing can compare. Manhattanites, do you think this is chocolate buttercream? Let me tell you about chocolate buttercream.
Okay, how did I just write an entire paragraph about my dubious kitchen prowess and some dry fake sausage substitute when I spent an exciting day touring Manhattan? And another rant before that about crappy yogurt? It must be because I love to complain, and am only funny when doing so. If my life were always awesome I wouldn't have anything to say ever again.
What am I doing tomorrow? I don't know! When am I planning it? Not tonight! Huzzah!
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