During a trip to New York, I saw a lot of theatre shows and relaxed.

At the time of writing this, I’ve now been to New York City 39 times in three years, and that doesn’t include the fact I briefly lived there before college. My college years in New York were cut short because of the pandemic, and I had to give up my apartment in Flatbush, but I basically am forced to go back because of my job. And I don’t complain about having to go to the city!

For those who are new here and stumbled on this blog through the random powers of the Internet (most likely Google), welcome! My name is Ashley, and I am a writer and former film and television critic who started this. blog as a form of a digital diary. It’s a fantastic way to keep track of all of the books, travel, and television shows I’ve been coming across throughout the years.

This trip, I had to go up to the city in order to work a production at the theatre I’ve been at for almost five years now. At the time, we were putting on a full-length play about Hallie Flanagan and the Federal Theatre Project. It’s a play that felt a little too on the nose for our current political reality in the United States.

I had made plans before I went into the city, but then they ended up getting ruined due to the fact my knee went out on me the Thursday I was there, about a day and a half before I was supposed to go. I was going to head over to Brighton Beach the Friday, but ended up having to completely nix those plans because I couldn’t walk really or go up or down steps.

There’s a lot I did during this trip, even with some of the days off, so let’s get into the blog post before I start rambling too much! I know introductions can get quite long, so I don’t want to bore you before we get into my itinerary.

Day One: settling into Brooklyn, and momos and ramen are such a good combo.

Whenever I come into the city, I always stay somewhere in Brooklyn. Although I am very much a Queens girl at heart (my great-grandmother even lived in Astoria), Brooklyn is just more accessible for me when it comes to finding a place to stay for free.

I booked a later bus from Baltimore this time because the person I was staying with had people staying with her; she was heading off on a cruise, so I timed it so that I would get in while they were leaving for New Jersey. I arrived in the city around 4 PM, then stopped by the theater I work at in Hudson Yards to pick up the keys to where I was staying.

I then hauled all of my stuff onto the Penn Station 2/3 train to Brooklyn, then got myself organize when I was in the apartment. I always try to one bag my trips to New York these days so I don’t feel tempted to buy new items and books, so it’s not like I had too much to unpack.

I wasn’t planning on eating dinner this night, but decided that I should take a cute little walk. So I went to Momo Ramen near Barclays Center for dinner. Momos and ramen seems like a golden combo, and while I did not order any ramen (I picked out a Tibetan thentuk instead), I thought the momos were quite good. I also had leftovers for a light breakfast or dinner the next day!

After that I just crawled back into bed and watched some of my Korean drama (this time, it was The Witch as it was airing on Viki).

Day Two: The MET, Ethiopian food, the Cloisters, and a show at the Orpheum Theatre.

I woke up at 7 AM of day two in New York, which is not when I wanted to wake up at all, but I rolled with it, as it gave me more time to read than expected. I snacked on some tangerines and Costco bags of chestnuts before I started getting ready for the day.

My plans for the day was that I wanted to be at the MET by 10 AM, which did not happen. I arrived thirty minutes later than that, but oh well. My goal here was to see the bojagi they put out in the Korean art section (which is tiny, and has a rotating list of items), but I spent about three hours in the MET.

The other reason I wanted to be here was that I wanted to take pictures and photographs. I just like taking pictures and vibing my way through spaces, so I had a blast while I was in here. I had to watch the time though, as I was meeting a friend in Harlem for lunch.

We met at 1:30 PM at Lalilbella, an Ethiopian spot, which had a really good sampler for two. We couldn’t even finish it, but I had a good time catching up with her and chatting. We hadn’t seen each other since we were in Korea the past summer, so it was a little wild to me that time had passed that quickly.

After that I headed further uptown to go to the MET Cloisters for the first time. I arrived an hour before closing, so I did have to speed run the museum. It’s a gorgeous space, but I feel like I could appreciate it more if it were spring. It was still beautiful, but all of the gardens were dead and whatnot.

I wandered to the East Village after this, picked up my tickets to The Jonathan Larson Project at the Orpheum Theater, and took another hour walk through the area. The show was good, but I’m glad I didn’t spend a ton of money on it because of its length. I went home after and burrowed into the comforters, as it was a cold night.

Day Three: Malatang, a work day, and Purpose at the Hayes Theater.

I was thrilled to realize a malatang restaurant had opened up by Penn Station. Malatang is something I ate way too much of when I was in Busan, South Korea, as it was my (and my language partner’s) obsession to eat the spiciest malatang we could get. I arrived at 10:30, which seems like a slightly obscene time to eat malatang, but the bizarre thing is the place was full of a marketing team and influencers.

So they had all of this food, but the entire hour I was there they didn’t eat any of it. Even when I was getting in the line to pick out my vegetables and meat, they were recording themselves slowly going through the line with a massive camera setup and getting the footage they needed. I was also definitely in a ton of shorts they were making as I was sitting next ot the sign for the place.

Besides that, the malatang was great and I devoured it. I’ll be back to feed my unhealthy obsession with the dish, although it was a shock compared to what I was used to paying in Korea for it. I then walked to work, and spent the rest of the day working on projects with my boss for our current production.

After work, I grabbed a coffee at Qamaria, a Yemeni coffee shop near Port Authority that opened up recently, then took a stroll through the neighborhood. I had tickets for Purpose at 8 PM, so I stopped by Kinokuniya before the house opened and I could sit down. I was looking for poetry books, but their collection wasn’t the best.

Purpose is the best show I saw this trip, that’s for sure. I thought it was witty, funny, and tragically sad in so many different ways. I walked out of the theater very satisfied, put out the trash for my chores in the co-op, and then took a shower and went to bed.

Day Four: Koreatown (Manhattan), another work day, wandering Midtown, and All Nighter at MCC.

On Day Four, I was planning to go back to work for most of the day again. I actually slept in today, until 9 AM, and then I got ready and left pretty quickly. When I’m in the city, I don’t like sitting still too long, especially when I have things to do.

I headed straight to Koreatown, as I wanted to go to the Korean Culture Center and see what they had to offer. The first and second floors have art exhibitions, as well as a little Korean style garden that’s quite cute to see. I then went and spent some time on the third floor looking at the books they had on Korea and in Korean.

I wasn’t planning on going to Cho Dang Gol, but when I walked past it, I knew I had to go. It was 11:50 AM, ten minutes before opening, and they were seating people. There’s usually a huge wait to get in here, so I went in, ordered a soondubu with vegetables, bulgogi, and a cup of pear makgeolli.

This is genuinely some of the best Korean food I’ve had in the United States. The banchan was fantastic, the tofu is handmade in house, and the pear makgeolli was perfectly refreshing. The bulgogi and soondubu were also awesome for the $20 lunch set, and I was set for the rest of the day food-wise.

I then went to work, and the biggest mistake of the day came when I didn’t buy an umbrella. There was such a downpour later, and I wanted to go all the way to McNally Jackson. I bought a book on Tibetan diaspora and a Eugenia Leigh poetry collection, tucked it inside of three different bags to protect it from the rain (spoiler: it didn’t work), then trekked to Angelina Bakery.

I was dripping wet and just wanted somewhere to go before I saw All Nighter at MCC. I ordered a caramel latte and a strawberry bombolone (which is my favorite dessert there), sat around for about 40 minutes, then trekked back outside and discovered the rain was coming down even harder.

That’s how I ended up looking like a drowned rat and had water in my shoes the entire show. All Nighter was a good time, not high art, but I enjoyed it for what it was. I’d recommend it, even though this post is definitely coming out around the end or after its closing.

I then headed home in the rain again, then took a hot shower because even my bones were shivering.

Day Five: Flushing, a show in LIC, and even more work!

My objective for this day was to go to Flushing and take photographs. It’s about an hour and a half on the subway from where I stay in Brooklyn to Flushing, which is a pain, but it’s something I do often. I ambled around the house until about 12 PM, then I got on the train for my long journey deep into Queens.

Thankfully at this time on a weekday the 7 Train was delightfully empty, so I had a seat the entire time. I didn’t end up taking photographs in Flushing, but I did go on a bunch of errands for people while I was there. I grabbed jewelry for my friend, food for another coworker who was in LIC, went grocery shopping for myself, and then ate a huge meal at Spring Shabu Shabu. I also grabbed egg tarts at Tai Pan Bakery, which were pretty good!

I then hopped on the 7 Train again to Long Island City, which is where our production was happening. I walked from the train station and skipped Gantry Plaza, where I planned to take pictures, as my boss was demanding I come in and fix some of our problems. This was the beginning of my knee pain, by the way, which plagued me for a week after this trip.

The show was good though! I stayed around until 10:30 PM, helping clean up wherever I could, and my boss ordered me an Uber home back to Brooklyn because of my knee. I showered and passed out immediately when I was in bed, and then I woke up the next morning to my knee absolutely messed up.

Days Six & Seven: Resting, Dakar 2000, and picking up some cheesecake.

I was supposed to go to Brighton Beach on Day Six, which sucks because my knee hurt so bad. I instead went to Al Badawi for lunch nearby on the 2/3 train, and ordered the mixed shawarma platter. They started the meal off with fresh pita out of the oven, olive oil, olives, and zaatar. I’d go back for that bread alone—it was fantastic!

My mixed shawarma was also very good. I didn’t realize the beef is probably mixed with lamb, even though I asked the waitress if it was (she said it didn’t), but it tasted very much like lamb. I ended up just mainly eating the chicken, salad, and rice, but that was delicious. I also ordered a laziza peach soda which was fantastic as well.

On the way home, as I knew my knee was hopeless, I stopped at Damascus Bakery and picked up a pistachio kanefe for $4. It was so good as well. I then spent a chunk of the day just in bed reading and watching television, then headed out to the nearest accessible station (I could no longer go up and down steps) to see Dakar 2000 at NYCC.

I should’ve stayed at home, but I was too stubborn because I had paid for a TDF ticket and they were nonrefundable. This was probably my second favorite show this trip, but I made the mistake of going down the steps for the theatre and it hurt so bad. I had to take the elevator up when it was over.

I headed home immediately after, stopping at Barclays Center, as it was the nearest accessible station. It was full of people after a game, which was nice to see on a Friday night.

The next day I had a bus at 2 PM, so I cleaned up the place, packed up my stuff, and napped until it was time to leave. I stopped at Junior’s for four cheesecake slices to haul home, then made friends with an old Guyanese woman while waiting for my bus.

This was a good trip minus the knee, but perhaps it was a sign to slown down in general! I can’t wait until the next time I’m in the city.

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