Subway malfunctions and flood warnings

I love the New York City subway system. Sure, it has its faults as any public transit system would, but it’s really hard to hate it given that it runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and you can rely on it to get to most places throughout the four boroughs (sorry, Staten Island). Because of the New York City subway system, I have had zero reason to drive for the last seventeen years, so that makes me super, duper happy!

But then there come the times when the subway does, in fact, malfunction, and you are left wondering to yourself, what the fuck is actually going on here, and how did a 13-minute subway ride become a two-hour commuting nightmare? The last three days, there have been power outages, likely due to high heat/hot weather, at the West 4th Street station. This has meant that all trains going through it, so the A, C, E, B, D, F, and M trains, have been negatively impacted. It took Chris multiple line changes and walking to different stops to get home today from dropping Kaia off at summer camp — a total of two hours of commuting time.

I was cognizant of this when I went to pick her up later in the day. I went into the Columbus Circle subway station and checked the times. The status board said it would take about five minutes for the next B/D train to arrive. It ended up taking longer than that, plus a stall right before West 4th Street. I still arrived at her school at about the same time I usually do for pickup. Unfortunately, she was not there when I came, though. The teacher at the school answered the door to let me know that the bus was stuck in traffic. Several classes had gone on a farm field trip to Melville out in Long Island, including Kaia’s. They left early given the rain/flood warnings this afternoon, but due to multiple unanticipated road closures, they were running behind. The bus was not expected to be back for another thirty-plus minutes.

Of course I was annoyed, but it was out of their control even when they intentionally left the farm early, and nothing else could be done. So I walked around for a bit and popped into a bakery a few blocks away to pick up a pork floss onigiri for Kaia, as I knew she’d be hungry given we’d be late for our usual dinner time at home. I stopped by a tamal shop I noticed a couple months ago when I walked by it to pick up some horchata for myself to stay hydrated, plus two tamales to go. It made me realize that while I’ve spent the last year really exploring Chinatown deeply, I have really neglected the Lower East Side. It’s right next to Chinatown, and it also has endless delicious things to check out. So I made a mental note to self on this.

The bus finally came at around the time the teacher estimated. I told Kaia we had to take a different train at a different stop to get home, and this would necessitate more walking. She did perfectly fine when we went to Canal and took the yellow trains home. But I knew she’d eventually whine and whinge on the walk from the 57th Street yellow train stop to home given it was more after-school walking than she was used to. She happily nibbled her onigiri during the entire subway ride uptown.

We didn’t get home until past 6:30 when we usually get home from school between 5:30-5:45. But in the end, we got her fed, showered, read to, and sleeping. It was definitely tiring, but it definitely made our after-school routine a bit more exciting for Kaia, as it wasn’t as predictable. Plus, we both got extra steps in!

Building friends and play dates

While living in New York, what I’ve always wanted was a friend who lived walking distance who I can just say, “Hey, are you free? Want to grab coffee/take a walk in the park?” During this whole time I’ve lived in New York, I’ve only ever had one real friend who lived within walking distance, and frankly, we never had that type of relationship with each other. We probably saw each other at the same frequency we’d see each other if we didn’t live close by.

When we lived in this building, and especially after Kaia was born, I thought it would be amazing if I could make other mom or dad friends in the building. This… was a desire, but it barely came into fruition. In my mind, this seemed like an ideal setup: our kids could play together and entertain themselves while we’d have adult conversation or meals. I attempted a friendship with at least three different parents in the building. One was a dad, who has since moved out, but he was the most reciprocal. He actually did reach out to do play dates, but unfortunately his son (two months older than Kaia) and Kaia did NOT get along (his son wanted to throw toys at and hit Kaia, and Kaia did not like him). The second was a mom who had a son about four months younger than Kaia. I tried reaching out a few times to set up play dates, and she always said she was busy, so we never actually did an official play date. She never reached out unless she had childcare or kid product questions (fun). The third is someone I met at the gym; we’re both called “gym rats” by our building trainer because we’re always at the gym every weekday. We were quite friendly. She gave a baby gift when Kaia was born and gave me endless suggestions for baby products and stores because she had friends having babies (and she was doing IVF, which she later revealed). We invited her to our Thanksgiving meal just a couple weeks before Kaia was born. I was invited to both her baby showers and attended the first one. But when I’ve tried to schedule play dates with our kids, it’s never worked. Again, she also has never reached out to arrange any date. I figured that I should just let the idea go and came to the conclusion I was just never going to make nearby parent friends.

Then earlier this year, I took Kaia to the pool on our roof, and we happened to swim with a mom who had a son about five months younger than Kaia. We made some small talk, and since she didn’t have her phone, she asked me to leave my name and number with the lifeguard, and she’d contact me for a future play date. I didn’t think anything of it because of my previous experiences attempting to meet up with other neighbors for play dates. But then about three days later, she sent me a message on Whatspp and asked to arrange a play date in the coming weeks. Since then, we’ve had three play dates — one at the play room/library, one at the pool, and the most recent one was today, when we started at the pool; after, I invited them over to our place for snacks (I made whole grain chocolate banana mini muffins for the kids, plus I had Peruvian dark chocolate to share, along with some fruit and roasted sweet potatoes for the kids). The kids played with Kaia’s toys; Kaia was really sweet and actually laid out a lot of her favorite toys and arranged them “just so” so that Hugo could decide which toys he wanted to play with alongside her. They fought over her Peppa Pig bus and ice cream truck. They got excited and started squealing when we took some balloons out for blowing up. And they eventually started bonding over Kaia’s book collection, when they spent a good 40 minutes just reading books together, sharing stories, and taking turns with books over and over. While they played, we chatted about work, travel, different countries and cultures, and local restaurants and play areas.

Our neighbor’s work and travel schedule is a bit hectic for the next couple months, so our next play date isn’t until the beginning of October; she wanted to confirm while we were together and put it in her calendar so she didn’t forget, which I really appreciate. But it feels really good to finally have a friend in the building who has a child similar in age to Kaia who I can enjoy spending time with. It took a while, but it has finally happened! I’ve made a real neighbor friend (with a child!).

A gem of a bakery in Ridgewood, Queens

We had our brunch date with my friend and her husband today, and given our babysitter cancelled on us and all our backups were occupied, we took Kaia with us to Ridgewood, Queens, where the restaurant is. It ended up working out really well because Kaia had such a nice surprise treat at a local bakery we visited.

Rudy’s Pastry Shop is an institution in Ridgewood and has been around since about 1934. They started out as a German bakery back then, but now they do a whole array of different, delicious cakes and pastries (even including gluten free!). Chris found out about it and added to our to-try list. We came in for the cannoli and alfajores. I knew this would be a good spot for cannoli once I saw an entire glass case full of unfilled cannoli shells. YES, cannolis should be filled to order for freshness and for the shell to stay crisp! We got a large chocolate dipped one, which includes mini chocolate chips stirred in the fresh ricotta filling. We have had a number of incredible cannolis in New York, most notably off Arthur Avenue in the Bronx and in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, but now, we have an excellent spot in Queens to add to our cannoli list! This one had perfectly whipped ricotta with just enough sweetness; the shell was thin, really crisp, and had the perfect crunchy texture. Even Kaia, who usually doesn’t like “cheesy” things, kept dipping her finger into the ricotta and eating more and more of it. And of course, she loved the cannoli shell.

Rudy’s has a comfortable seating area towards the back of the bakery, where we sat down briefly to enjoy our oversized cannoli. Behind us, there was a small table of elementary school-aged kids and some adults, piping cupcakes with pastry piping bags and topping them with sprinkles. I thought it was such a cute activity and figured they must be participating in some mini class organized by the bakery. But then out of nowhere, the owner Toni came by and asked if Kaia would like a mini cupcake piping lesson. She asked if my toddler would prefer vanilla or chocolate. Of course, we said Kaia would love chocolate. Kaia’s face lit up like a little bulb, as she heard she was getting a chocolate cupcake! With that, Toni came over to our table with a chocolate cupcake, a little piping bag already filled with fresh buttercream, a cup of rainbow sprinkles, and a to-go cupcake container. And just like that, Kaia had her very first cupcake/frosting piping lesson with this very sweet and kind owner; if only I had recorded more of her facial expressions when Toni came and presented the cupcake, the piper, and the rainbow sprinkles on our table!! Toni was so sweet, showing her patiently how to pipe and control the tip. She talked through the motions and guided Kaia’s fingers along the piping bag to pipe just the right amount of buttercream frosting onto the top of the cupcake. Shockingly, this whole experience and all the ingredients were totally on the house! Toni just kept saying how much the kids love it, and so she loves doing this for them. She said it wasn’t just a business; it was about building community. We were so touched.

I am grateful for the kindness and generosity of the owner of Rudy’s Pastry Shop. We’ve never had this type of hospitality in any establishment with Kaia to date. Kaia has been given endless freebies, little treats, and kindnesses pretty much everywhere that we’ve repeatedly been shocked by. But this one, single experience truly takes the cake (literally)! When we’re back in Ridgewood, we will most definitely be back here. I’d also love to come back and try their famous Black Forest cake, which seems to get rave reviews. When I realized their Black Forest cake was one of their signature items, it actually made me a little sad because I remember how much Ed liked this cake. I always thought the cake was overrated, but maybe it was because I never had a really good one? But I have a feeling that Rudy’s makes it the way it’s supposed to be, in classic German fashion.

Babysitter cancels, and all back-ups are unavailable

We had plans to have brunch in Ridgewood, Queens, this Saturday with my friend and her husband. They planned to leave their two kids at home with my friend’s mom while they caught up with us. When Chris heard this, he said that it felt uneven and that we should get a babysitter, too, so that we could actually enjoy brunch. I hesitated, but I figured it wouldn’t be the worst idea to have a different babysitting experience and get one during the day time. So I asked our usual babysitter several weeks ago, and she agreed to come.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. She texted on Tuesday, saying a “family emergency” came up, and she wouldn’t be available that day anymore. Granted, she could easily have lied and just got an invite to the Hamptons or Jersey Shore, but regardless, she was not going to be free, and that was all I really needed to know.

I immediately texted my second babysitter backup. She said she already had plans and wouldn’t be free until past 4pm. I told Chris this, and he contacted his babysitter contact, who ended up being out of town. Finally, I texted a former daycare teacher if she could babysit, but she actually works her regular job on Saturdays now! So we’re totally out of luck. In the end, we’ll have to take Kaia to brunch with us… and likely give her more screen time at the table than we’d ideally like.

Oh, the joys of lack of decent childcare options when you really need them!

Three going on thirteen and avoiding potential head injuries

Ever since we got back from South America, it’s like we are at peak level of “three going on thirteen/three-nager” land with Kaia. Every single thing I do seems to piss her off. When I try to wake her up in the morning, she screams and cries and refuses to eat breakfast. When I want to brush her teeth or comb her hair, she screams and runs away. Even at night when I try to get her up to pee at midnight, she might let me take her to pee, but then she throws a fit when it’s time to wipe.

Today after dinner, she asked if she could do a video chat with Chris’s parents, but he said no. This was the beginning of her tantrum, and it only got worse when it was time for me to give her a shower. I stripped her while she thrashed around. And then when it was time to put her in the bathtub, she refused to stand up and tried to lie down as best as she could. I had to keep trying to protect her head so that she didn’t accidentally bash it in while tantrumming. She ended up sitting almost the entire bath. Somehow, I successfully cleaned all parts of her despite her screaming, crying, and thrashing around almost the whole time. I was pretty proud of myself.

Being a parent is rewarding, but it’s also really thankless work that can be extremely tough. In moments when she’s screaming and crying and thrashing around everywhere and almost self-inflicting bodily harm, I have to try really hard to stay centered and not flip out or just give up. All I have to say is… I have no idea how people go through these tough phases with multiple kids — no idea.

Voluntarily singing and learning new Chinese songs

Ever since Kaia started at her Chinese immersion school for 3K, she has been a lot more receptive to Chinese language and songs. Around Lunar New Year, she was excited to listen to and sing a number of Chinese New Year related songs. In the weeks leading up to the end of the 3K school year, she was constantly singing parts of “Gan Xie Lao Shi” (Thank you, Teacher). When I’d play the song on YouTube for her to listen, she’d always get really excited. Based on playing this a number of times, YouTube suggested a few related songs, like “Mama, Wo Ai Ni” (Mama, I Love You) and “Ting Wo Shuo Xie Xie Ni” (Hear Me Say Thank you), plus a few others. And Kaia’s really gotten into them. We’ve only played them a handful of times, but she’s already getting most of the words correct. I am not a native Mandarin speaker by any means and do not always understand even the basic kids’ songs word for word, especially when they sing very fast. I usually will understand the gist or meaning, but I won’t always get every word or word’s meaning correct. Kaia, on the other hand, had only heard one of the songs just a handful of times, and she was actually able to pronounce even the non-chorus words correctly! It was really sweet and endearing to witness this. I love seeing her embrace Chinese language and culture; I actually feel warm and fuzzy on the inside when I see this happening and just want to squeeze her in my arms.

I don’t know how fluent or literate Kaia will become in Mandarin Chinese; my basic hope is that she will surpass my extremely rudimentary knowledge. But I do hope that this exposure lays a basic foundation for understanding and appreciation of Chinese language and culture.

Chocolate, cherimoya, and strawberry ice cream for Kaia

I was rummaging through my pajamas when I came across a pajama top I hadn’t worn in ages. It’s a white muscle tank that has three ice cream cones going across: one brown, one white, and one strawberry. The average person would read this as chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice creams. But, my toddler had opinions of her own regarding what flavors they were.

Kaia loves clothing with food on it (definitely my kid). As soon as she saw me put this top on, she squealed and said it was a new top (well, new for her to see) and got excited that it was three ice cream cones. I asked her what flavor was each. She pointed at them, left to right, and said: “this one (brown) is chocolate. This one (in the middle, white) is cherimoya. And this one (on the right, pink) is strawberry! Ice cream for me!”

I immediately started giggling. She didn’t call the white ice cream “vanilla” as she normally would and instead called it “cherimoya” because we ate a lot of cherimoya during our trip in South America. So now she associates the food color white with cherimoya! It was such a sweet and cute thing to say, and also made me realize she truly was taking in everything we talked about and experienced in South America.

Parenting is not an easy job; it’s likely the hardest job in the world. But little sweet moments like this always make me gush and remind me why I love being a parent to my Kaia Pookie.

Overnight potty training – still in progress

While in South America, we put Kaia back in overnight pull-ups. It didn’t make sense for us to wake her up twice each night to pee while we were technically supposed to be on vacation/holiday. But once we got back, we started waking her up to pee again. I usually wake her up the first time, which has been between 11:15 to midnight. Then, Chris will wake up at around 2:30-2:45 to bring her to pee. According to the Oh Crap! potty training method, we’re supposed to start with this to get her in the habit and physical / mental mode of waking up to pee. Then, ideally, this is supposed to train her to wake up to pee on her own. Well, we started this method about two weeks before South America, and she hasn’t woken up on her own to pee even once. Maybe my expectations are too high, but this seems to be going rather slowly.

Earlier this week when I’d wake her to pee at around 11:15-11:30, it did not go over so well. I knew she wouldn’t like getting woken up from a deep sleep (who would?!), but she would out right refuse and lie on the bathroom floor and scream until Chris came to coax her. I decided that maybe I was waking her up to early, so I decided to change my alarm to midnight to give her more time to sleep. This worked: the next few nights, she easily woke up when I nudged her to pee, peed in the potty, and let me tuck her back into bed. But now, it’s backfired: she will pee now, but then refuse when I try to wipe her and pull her pants back up. It’s almost as though she wants to just sit and sleep on the potty with her pants down!

I wonder if I will end up sharing these potty training stories with her later down the line… and what her reaction will be. She may end up having the reaction that her dad has to stories of his baby/toddlerhood: “No, I ate solid food right out of the womb/I walked right from birth.”

Caraguay Market, Ecuadorian chocolate, and lulo ice cream

Saturday was our last full day in Ecuador and in South America for this trip. It was a bit bittersweet to have the trip come to an end. On our last day, we visited the Caraguay Market, a very local market for fresh food, produce, and food stalls. There, we got a real taste of local blackberries that were a very interesting mix of sweet and tart. They definitely tasted like the un-sugared version of the mora (blackberry) ice cream we enjoyed at La Dulceria La Palma the other day! We also had a really deeply flavored sopa de mariscos from a prepared food vendor stall for just $2. It definitely felt like we could have been the only tourists at that market. The interesting thing about this market versus other markets we’ve visited in South America and around the world is that here, we saw endless vendors selling bags and bags of freshly picked beans. They ranged from fava to what looked like borlotti beans and white beans. I knew they were fresh because I actually saw some vendors freshly picking the beans out of pods! In addition to that, for the very first time I saw hibiscus flowers being sold fresh. Usually when I see them, they are already dried, but here, it was as thought they were freshly plucked! Hibiscus juice or “jamaica” is also very popular down here, though we never had any since we favored coffee or freshly blended juices like maracuya or tomate de arbol.

The last stop we had was at San Fernando Chocolateria in Guayaquil. It was quite touristy since it was right next door to the national chocolate museum, but here, we had a cookie brownie, a hot chocolate, and a scoop of lulo (fruit) ice cream — likely our last taste of lulo this trip. Kaia asked for chocolate, but well, we had to veto her and get lulo. She didn’t seem to mind and kept on wanting more and more bites of the lulo ice cream.

Every time we’ve had chocolate either here or in Peru, I’ve noticed that the chocolate just tastes fruitier. One of our guides told us that the chocolate here tends to be cacao plus sugar, and little else. Occasionally, they will add milk, but there are no other additives. While a lot of other chocolate manufacturers around the world will add “fat” to chocolate from things like various vegetable or palm oils, in Ecuador and Peru, the fat comes purely from the cacao butter, so the actual cacao bean itself.

After doing some further reading about Ecuadorian chocolate specifically, I learned that two different types of Ecuadorian cocoa plants are grown — National (arriba) and the CCN51 hybrid. The National/Arriba beans (“fine aroma”) beans are recognized for their fine floral flavor and fruity aromas. Ecuador produces about 63 percent of all fine Arriba chocolate in the world today. Unfortunately for us, though, Arriba beans only account for less than five percent of the entire world’s cocoa crop. So less people will be able to experience the complex flavors of Arriba cacao beans. CCN51 hybrid is a stronger plant in that it’s more resistant to disease and thus easier to grow. It also produces larger beans. Sadly, though, these beans are supposed to have a less nuanced taste. But they’re cheaper, so they make it easier for more people around the world to taste chocolate.

I should have known that there were a variety of different cacao plants in existence in the same way there are dozens and dozens of different mango, apple, and any other fruit out there. But having learned this and hearing more about chocolate from our guides, I realized that the higher level of fruitiness of the chocolate we were tasting was not just in my head. The flavor of chocolate actually is richer, deeper, and more layered here than I am used to. While I still enjoy milk chocolate I think my tastes are definitely preferring darker chocolates now in search of more flavors and nuance.

Six crabs for $18, iguanas, and my beloved alfajores in Guayaquil, Ecuador

Guayaquil is an interesting city. It’s the largest city in Ecuador, both by population and size, and is considered the country’s main port and economic capital. From a tourist’s standpoint, it’s also seen as the main access point to get to the Galapagos Islands. While I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived in Quito to see that the traffic was really predictable and orderly, I was shocked how different Quito traffic was to Guayaquil’s. In Guayaquil’s, it seemed as erratic and crazy as in Lima. Cars didn’t always stop at stop signs or red lights. They rarely give way for pedestrians here. It almost felt like we were once again in a different country!

Chris described Guayaquil as feeling “gritty.” He doesn’t mean it as though it’s dirty, but he says it has a different feel to it than Quito. It’s definitely far less manicured and picturesque here. In my own mind, Guayaquil is most definitely not as clean or orderly as Quito. On a lot of the streets, it smelled like an unpleasant mix of excessive bird poop and mildew. But I suppose that adds to the “character” of Guayaquil for those who choose to stop here for a few days.

The biggest highlights to our first full day in Guayaquil yesterday were 1) the cheap crabs (six for $18!) at Mercado del Rio, 2) the iguanas at a park in the middle of the city, and 3) Dulceria La Palma.

After the exorbitantly expensive crab experience I’d had in Hong Kong earlier this year, I really wasn’t ready to pay much money at all for any crabs again. Plus, I dislike cracking crabs by myself and think it should really be a group activity. But when we saw cheap crabs on the menu at Mercado del Rio along the water, Chris insisted that I get them. So it was supposed to be five crabs for $18, and somehow, I got a sixth bonus one! These weren’t anywhere as fresh as the Dungeness crab I had in Hong Kong, but it’s okay since it didn’t feel like robbery like the Hong Kong crab was. I mostly focused on the claws and larger legs and left the rest. Chris and Kaia also had their seafood fix via some freshly grilled fish and seafood stew.

When we got to the Parque Seminario, known for iguanas just hanging out, I was wondering when we’d come across one… and then, suddenly, there were many! And once again, my child never fails to surprise me. Kaia shocked me when she exhibited no fear of the Andean condors outside of Quito just days ago. Then, while at a park in the middle of Guayaquil known for having lots of iguanas today, she was once again unfazed seeing these scaly looking reptiles. She tried to feed and even throw leaves on them and didn’t even look the least bit scared.

Another place we visited that we all loved was Dulceria La Palma. It’s a local institution for coffee, breakfast, snacks, and sweets that originally opened in 1908, but now has several locations. We went to the original location and had coffees, a tomate de arbol (local fruit) juice, two (yes, TWO!) mora (blackberry) ice creams, and sampled a few bite sized pastries. People were constantly streaming in and out for coffee, ice cream, ham and cheese sandwiches, and massive takeout boxes of pastries and cookies. The prices were insanely cheap and most definitely accessible to anyone and everyone. An alfajor for only 36 cents? YES, PLEASE.

For me, the highlight here was finally, finally having alfajores on this South America trip. I originally ordered just two to try, but we ended up ordering two more (and our kind, friendly waiter threw in a third one on the house for us!). The alfajores were small, bite sized, and topped generously with a big sprinkling of powdered sugar. The biscuits shattered on contact as they should given their buttery quality. And the insides were so funny: the bakers who prepared them simply piped on a small dollop of caramel without spreading them. They were probably thinking, “yeah… we don’t have to spread them in this sandwich cookie for you; you get the idea, so go eat it!” These little bites of alfajores really topped off this trip for me.