Arrived after a blissfully uneventful flight, train from Newark to Penn Station, and crappy taxi drive through unpleasant clogs of traffic. It’s fucking hot. Which I knew it would be, but it’s been a long time since I’ve experienced New York pavement-heat.
The room wasn’t ready so I walked around in the heat, had Malaysian lunch at Nyonya, an old favorite, then off to the Angelika Film Center to see what’s playing, pick up a Village Voice, and, most important, sit in a comfy chair in the nice air conditioned lobby.
But best of all, I found Grand Sausages in its new location on Elizabeth. The name is now Deluxe Food Market (because it’s no longer on Grand Street), but it has the same array of prepared foods waiting for me. I’d forgotten about their curry chicken, and then, there it was. I’ll get something there for dinner and bring it back to the room, although in their nice shiny new space they have tables.
Laconic Writer 
Say hello to the magical city for me… (Hmm, cities?)
What did you have at the Malaysian restaurant?
I used to live across the street from the restaurant, which opened after some time after I had been living there. It was my first experience with Malaysian food. On one of my visits, maybe my first visit, I asked about a menu item called shrimp with ladies fingers. I asked what that was, and, turned out, it wasn’t really the fingers of women. The waitress said it was something like a pepper. I ordered. And it was okra. Which, to answer your question, is what I had for lunch. Now the menu says ladies fingers and okra.