Now that some of our domestic travels have ended and our move is now complete, we went out for yet another Saturday to explore the other side of Mott Haven, the Bronx, that we didn’t visit last autumn when we went. Even before the pandemic was here, I think I did a decent job of going to neighborhoods where I didn’t live. It also helped that I lived in a lesser known and unpopular area like Elmhurst, Queens. I knew I had seen more of New York than the average life-long New Yorker, and far, far more than the temporary New York person who stays here for a year or so and leaves for another city. But the pandemic has really given us more time to further explore and appreciate our own backyard. You could actually spend an entire year or so exploring all the neighborhoods of New York and NEVER get through even half of all the businesses. That’s the range and diversity that New York has that most cities lack.

Just today, we visited a Dominican bakery for a fried potato and pork treat, a couple of different Latin bakeries, a well appointed and stylish Australian owned restaurant bar, a trendy sushi spot, a brick oven pizzeria, a super light (!) and delicious local burger spot with a secret “milk” sauce (they even had a delicious virgin pina colada — so refreshing and really hit the spot on a hot day!), and a local Bronx microbrewery. This was all within walking distance from each other up in Mott Haven. The diversity of New York is just subway stops away no matter where you are here, if not just a few blocks away.

As the global pandemic of COVID-19 continues with a delta variant that is quickly sweeping across the globe, attacks against Asian Americans has unfortunately continued. Many elderly Asians have been attacked, beaten, robbed, stabbed. Asian restaurant workers have been attacked going home after dark. It’s been an unfortunate time for Asians in America, and it’s instilled a lot of fear in Asian business owners, who not only want to continue running their businesses obviously, but also care about the well-being and safety of their workers. And for that reason, many across Manhattan Chinatown, as with some other Chinatowns across the country, have decided to shorten their hours to allow their workers to get home safely during daylight hours. Most businesses that typically closed in the middle or late evening are now shutting down for the day by 5 to 7pm. Others that used to stay open until 7 or 8 are now closing their doors by 4 or 5pm. It’s been really sad to see this. Even Hong Kong Supermarket is now closing at around 6pm here, and it’s a major grocery store in Chinatown. When we were planning to go have Thai food in Chinatown this evening as our usual tradition around the anniversary of Ed’s passing to have a meal he would have enjoyed, I checked to see if Chun Yang Tea would still be open by the time we finished dinner. I’d been wanting to visit here for a long time since they opened, as they are the spin off of the very original bubble tea house in Taichung, Taiwan. I especially was eager to go when I found out they started a partnership with a local, Asian owned ice cream business to make a hojicha ice cream latte. Unfortunately, they have shortened their hours, as well, as they close every day by 7pm now.

It’s been depressing to see the racist acts in the news, the rate of Asian hate crimes increase during the pandemic. And it’s also been sad to see Asian businesses close early out of fear. I hope this doesn’t continue forever. Chinatown will only lose business if this all keeps up. We need to keep Chinatown alive.

About a week before our move, in the last apartment I started noticing these tiny little bugs around the kitchen and kitchen window. They were no bigger than a sesame seed and were reddish-brown in color. And worse: they had WINGS. Eventually, I started seeing them flying in the bedroom and bathroom. I had no idea what was causing them. At first, I wondered if it was because of fruit I purchased that I left on the counter. After this, I started spraying all fruit on the counter with boiling water before leaving them there (everything else goes in the fridge, but alas, you are supposed to let mangoes, kiwis, and stone fruit ripen at room temperature). Then, I inspected my spider plant a few times to ensure that it was not the root cause and found nothing. I just couldn’t figure out the cause. Then finally, yesterday, while moving a plastic storage bin with pantry item foods, I discovered at least 10 of them in the bin! Something in the bin was causing this nonsense!

Through process of elimination, I separated out all canned and bagged items. I inspected the plastic bagged items for holes. And finally, I found the culprit: it was my dried Mexican chilies that I’d purchased at a market in Corona, Queens, last year. The beetles were crawling around, gnawing their way at the chilies; it was just awful. I immediately wrapped up the chili bag and tossed it down the shoot. Then, I sealed the plastic bin to contain any beetles and hopefully suffocate them.

I read about these drugstore beetles online, as I’d never heard of them before or noticed them. They are specifically drawn to spices, particularly CHILIES and PEPPERS, and they are like cockroaches in that they just keep multiplying and are super resilient. They can go days and days without food or water and still survive. It’s just hideous. I’m confused, though, because I’d had these chilies for so long, and they’d never had any bugs before until now. I have no idea where these disgusting critters originated from to begin with…?!

Some of them unfortunately got out in the new apartment. In the last couple of days, I’ve had to kill at least 5-6 every day. Today is the first day when I haven’t seen any. Fingers crossed I killed them all. Bug infestations are truly the worst. Now, I’m trying to remove almost everything like rice, flour, etc., out of their original packaging and into sealed glass or plastic jars/bins. I also threw my other chilies and peppers into the freezer (plus all my rice flours because I’m paranoid now) temporarily to kill any potential bugs. I cannot have this happen again.