Distractions, reflections

West of the theatre district in New York City is Hell’s Kitchen, a district with such a menacing name.  I’ve never had a reason to go there, but since I was staying in a hotel right on the edge of the neighbourhood, it was worth an early morning walk.  I started at 49th Street, walking south on 9th Avenue.  It’s a wide street, with traffic one-way downtown (i.e. southbound).

On the east side of the street, the security gates on some shops were still down in the early morning.  They don’t present the most attractive face for the city.

Another block south to 48th Street, there were more shops with shutters down.

The variety of storefronts on 9th Avenue means convenient shopping for residents nearby on the side streets.

44th Street is a wide one-way street, looking east from 9th Avenue. Read the rest of this entry →

Since I travel a lot, I have lot of opportunities for meals on an expense account. I rarely approach the daily expense limits, though, because I prefer Asian and ethnic cuisines over European and western food. In New York, the variety of choice is huge. I like the choice of restaurants in the Murray Hill area.

One discovery that I really enjoyed was Olympic Pita, on West 38th Street. I visited Israel in the late 1990s, so I know what the food should be like. Olympic Pita makes its own pita and laffa — a bread that I hadn’t previously tried — in an oven at the front of the store. The laffa is brought hot to the table as stacks of bread 12 inches in diameter.

Waitresses invite guests to help themselves from salads and pickles at the garnish bar. I ordered a falafel sandwich, and declined to have french fries stuffed into the middle. Even then, the portion was huge.

Read the rest of this entry →