Now that Kaia is no longer going to school down in Manhattan Chinatown, I also no longer have an excuse to be down there every day. I can no longer make a last minute decision to make an authentic Chinese, Vietnamese, or Thai dish because my access to the right ingredients is limited where we are; I can’t just pick it up on a whim while in Chinatown. Now, it’s back to the days of pre-planning way ahead to think about things I may need and want to cook. Since my afternoon was pretty quiet today, I decided to go down there for some groceries and to pickup Friday dinner takeout.

I mostly purchased fresh produce, things I cannot get easily (or anywhere as cheaply) on the Upper West Side: king oyster mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, gai lan, Shanghai bok choy, fish tofu, firm tofu (a specific brand I prefer). I stopped by Banh by Lauren to tick off two more punches on my Kickstarter punch card and got some banh bo nuong slices. I went to my super under the radar Fuzhou Wei Zhong Wei for Fuzhou-style xiao long bao and fried dumplings. I waited in a short line that became super long at Kuih Cafe to pick up a made-to-order pandan mochi waffle, this time filled with handmade durian kaya (ugh, so delicious). I picked up a few baozi (cha siu and custard filled pineapple bao) since these are now no longer easily accessible for us. Chris requested Korean for dinner, so I ordered takeout from what is likely the only casual, reasonably priced Korean place in Chinatown. And on my way back onto the B/D train uptown, I picked up my HeyTea mobile app order for King Guava Jasmine milk tea. My arms were full of groceries and food brimming from my canvas bags, but I will say that the entire way up on the subway to the Upper West Side, I felt quite self-satisfied with my varied food haul. Next time, I will need to vary it up and get things I did not get this time around!