Real Groceries!

Finally...I found a real grocery store, and I ate real food today! There is a Whole Foods market on the bottom floor of the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle, one subway stop away. If I'd just gone down one level yesterday, I would've seen it.

The food is extremely expensive, but at least I feel like I get more value for my money there. (I checked the toilet paper, and it's hardly cheaper than the buck-a-roll I paid at Food Emporium.) Two plastic bags of groceries came to $47--but we're talking GOOD, fresh food. This place is incredible--complete with soup bar, salad bar, Latin bar, Indian bar, a real Sushi bar with bar stools, and a restaurant. It was very crowded. There were eight checkout aisles, each manned by four cashiers. I must've been 25th in line. Another employee directed customers standing at the beginning of the long checkout line to the next available cashier.

This morning I had coffee with two of my fellow TAMs. (They're the ones who told me about Whole Foods.) Natalie's been at this job for 11 months and is still overwhelmed. She transferred from Charlotte last January and lives with a roommate on the Upper West Side. Elana said she just put in an application for a studio apartment on the Upper West Side. So I decided I'd check out that area on foot today.

But first I went down to the Financial District and looked at a handful of lofts, all in the same building at 33 Gold Street. The streets are cobblestone and much quieter there, but the area looked slightly seedy. The pre-war lofts were crap. Total crap. So now I know that $2000-2500 a month will buy me crap. I find it hard to believe anyone would pay that for the awful places I saw with their ugly small dirty spaces and tiny, filthy 1950's appliances. Ick!

I got on the subway and headed uptown to 96th Street. What a beautiful area! It's much different from any area of the city I've seen so far. The sidewalks are actually clean, the streets aren't as packed with traffic jams, and there are "real" grocery stores there (i.e., bigger than 1500 square feet). And there was more vegetation than I expected. The old townhouses lining the streets leading over to Central Park were unique. God, I'd love to live in one of those, but there's no doubt I can't afford one. Central Park is quite colorful at this time of year.

With real vegies and fruit in my tummy, alongside the veal florentine I cooked, I think it's time to hit the couch. I did a lot of walking today, and my feet are telling me it's time to crash.