Wanderlost : 04.13

As everyone knows, a terrible thing happened here in Boston a few days ago. Some unknown, evil person or persons planted 2 bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon and when they went off, 3 innocent people were dead and nearly 200 were wounded. I know bombs go off in other countries every day- we read in the news about the thousands of civilians dying in places like Syria and Afghanistan. I think it's important to keep these facts in mind when dealing with terrorism in America. . . however, as we all know, the closer you are to the tragedy the more tragic it seems. I keep thinking about people who died or lost limbs on Monday- they just wanted to enjoy a race on the first sunny day in weeks. I've only been in this city for two weeks, but after day 1 I had completely fallen in love with it, so this violence seems personal.
Luckily, Josh and I were in South Boston when the bombs went off- several miles from the site. I still haven't been through that part of the city, so it still seems a bit surreal and removed. But on Tuesday we spent the afternoon walking around Cambridge and you just felt such a strong sense of community, of compassion. Crazy, inconceivable things happen every day on this planet and sometimes I think humanity is just going right down the toilet. . . but then you see something like this.

college kids giving out "Free flowers, hugs and conversation" in Harvard Square

we met Eric Sommer who was playing music in the square- he's been on tour non-stop for years!

So last week we left the tiny apartment in Bushwick that we called "home" for the past month. Time really flies by when you're in a new place, seeing new things every day! In fact, it seems like just last week we were in Europe. . . now we're in Boston (which does have about as many Irish pubs as Dublin). But let me back up a bit. The last couple weeks in Brooklyn I was an especially avid explorer- going out for hours almost every day, exploring new neighborhoods, but mainly eating and shopping.
I had a few food goals when we got to NYC. . .of course, there are an endless number options in every conceivable category. And I don't have the stomach or the pocket book to eat out every day (plus I like cooking)- so I just sought out some highlights- starting with the almost-unattainable gluten free NYC bagel. If you read my last blog post, you know what a struggle (*tear*) I went through to find this simple delight. In all of my research and wanderings around the city, I was still only able to find one deli-Tompkins Square Bagels in the East Village- that had GF bagels on their menu. I'm pretty sure they don't make them in-house, but I didn't even ask for fear of being disappointed. However, they definitely make their own cream cheeses, in a vast array of delicious flavors. I went with my old staple (pre GF-days): veggie cream cheese with tomato slices. I used to always get everything bagels, they only had plain in the GF variety, but no mind. . . it was heaven (albeit very pricey for a bagel).

I was hoping to get to Chinatown more than once this month- there is such an overwhelming number of restaurants, tea shops, groceries, etc. that I could have just eaten here for a month and been satisfied. Avoiding soy sauce (which has gluten in it) at a Chinese restaurant is a bit tricky, but otherwise there are usually a lot of great GF options. The one day that we did spend in Chinatown was spent darting in and out of shops trying to avoid the rain. When the rain got particularly bad, we ducked into Paris (because it was close and there were delicious smells emanating from within), which turned out to be a Vietnamese restaurant. In Chinatown. Oh well- it was wonderful!

I got these rice paper crepes with a side of pork, which looked like Spam, but tasted great. Josh, of course, got pho.

Homemade brunch on the roof in Bushwick (we thought a sunny 55 degree day was good enough for rooftop dining)


seriously awesome empanada- that only cost $1.50!!- at undisclosed Queens location (if I told you I'd have to kill you, sorry).

Delicious Ethiopian food by Bunna Cafe at special Pop-Up Vegan Fair in Bushwick

Now on to the shopping. . .
I spent a lot of time combing through a few particular Brooklyn thrift stores (again, if I told you I'd have to kill you...) which were fantastic and allowed me to seriously bulk-up my Etsy store! Also, I made it to a couple of the big flea markets.