The latest addition to my morning walk to the subway

Ladies selling tamales!

This past week there has been a new addition to the street corner on my two block walk to the subway in the mornings.  A folding table with two ladies selling authentic tamales and coffee out of a big thermos.  J had a chance to try them and found them quite delicious and very spicy!  I'll have to take a turn soon too :)

The lines to buy them are quite impressive too!  So much so that they're drawing competition and a second table was set up across the street from the original tamale stand.  Picture to follow soon.

Love this neighborhood!

A look at the Queens Library

I recently had the pleasure of going to the Queens Library for the first time and I've quickly been converted from the New York Public Library.  I was surprised to learn upon moving to Astoria that the Queens Library system is independent of the New York Public Library system.  Apparently the latter only covers Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island (Brooklyn has its own library system).  The reasoning behind this I've learned is that the Queens and Brooklyn libraries existed prior to the consolidation of the five boroughs and chose to remain autonomous after the conversion.  The Queens Library (which has 62 locations in the borough) is the second largest library system in the country (first place, not surprisingly, going to the New York Public Library system) and holds a whopping 6.6 million items.

I was very impressed when I walked into the Broadway Branch the other day to pick up a book for my next book club ("Summer without Men" by Siri Hustvedt).  The library was of course packed with people of all different ages, races and nationalities -- to be expected in Astoria -- but what was startling was the modernity of the library.  Queens Library, it turns out, is one of a few libraries in the country that uses a check-out system that includes Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and is the world's first library system to have a truly full-service self-checkout kiosk.

RFID is an amazing technology whereby micro-thin radio transmitters are placed into every library item and when a user places their books (yes, plural, up to 16 books at once) on the check-out pad, the system automatically picks up the transmitters and checks the books out to the user.  It's a pretty crazy concept when you see your books pop up on the screen after placing them on what seems like a regular mouse pad and I was quite impressed.

In addition, the Queens Library has all of the benefits of online accounts that the New York Public Library has (putting books on hold, getting notifications, etc.) so, all in all, I think the Queens Library may have the New York Public Library beat!

UN recommended Astoria dining spots

As all New Yorkers know too well, mid-September marks the opening session of the UN and midtown east Manhattan becomes a nightmare for a few weeks (security, traffic, you name it).  In honor of the event, the New York Post decided to talk to a few UN missions of smaller countries to see where they recommend dining to get their local cuisine.  Not surprisingly, Astoria was mentioned a couple times!

Astoria recommendations include:

• "Cyprus: Ask Tasoula Manaridis, director of Cyprus Tourism, for a dining recommendation, and she’ll point you to Zenon Taverna, a Greek and Cypriot restaurant (34-10 31st Ave.). Manaridis especially recommends the Cypriot meze — small dishes served by the dozen (Zenon offers a 16-course meze menu for $19.95 per person.) Stand-outs include spice- and pork-laden sausages, not to mention grilled halloumi cheese."
• "Bhutan: Call the Bhutan mission to the UN and the officer who picks up will tell you that there are zero authentic Bhutanese eateries in NYC. But, he goes on, there is a sushi spot where you can order off-the-menu Bhutanese cuisine if you call ahead. New Sushi Q (25-03 30th Ave) will whip up spicy, chewy phaksha sikam (dry-cured pork sauteed with chilies) and a specialty called emadatse (mushrooms and green chilies in whey)."

J and I haven't eaten at either place yet, but I assure you it's now on the top of our list!  Stay tuned for an update.  To read the full article, click here.

Astoria vs. Panajachel

The electricity setup in Astoria is not totally unlike developing countries.  Case in point:

Taken in Astoria, Queens:


Taken in Panajachel, Guatemala:














In fact, one might argue that Panajachel's electrical wiring may have a bit of a better layout out than the jumbled knot of wires seen throughout Astoria!

Public health measures in Astoria

The MPH in me loves seeing signs like this one (spotted next to Henry Thoreau Elementary School on 30th Ave):

Sign reads "No idling: Asthma Free School Zone"

Astoria grocery stores big fear

Grocery stores in Astoria apparently have a real fear of grocery cart theft.  Not quite sure why I've seen almost all grocery stores with this security measure here, but no where else in NYC... Go figure!

US Open taking place in Queens!

Okay so technically the US Open takes place in Flushing, Queens and my blog is about Astoria, but I get to digress because I just went to my first match this week and had such a great time that I wanted to share.  And hey, it's still Queens at least!

Anyway, we actually didn't think that we'd be able to go as the weather forecast had an 80% chance of rain on Monday night, but we lucked out and had a great time!  Not only did we watch the very heated match between Caroline Wozniacki (ranked 1) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (15) who were neck in neck the whole time (Wozniacki won), but also got to see some mixed doubles in the side courts.  All in all a great event and definitely makes me want to pick up a racket and play tennis!

30th Avenue preparing itself for a big street fair!

The 30th Avenue Street Festival will take place today (9/5) from 12-6 and run on 30th Avenue from 29th to 41st street.  Looking forward to walking around and checking out the stands (and hoping that it doesn't get rained out)!

New train tracks arrive!

Guess it was time to replace some of the train tracks on the subway line (N/Q) that runs through Astoria!  The MTA has been closing our subway station during the weekday and on some weekend days all summer long and I think we're finally finding out what they're up to!  New train tracks:

New tracks being lowered onto the elevated train

New tracks awaiting delivery to the train track via a big crane

Quite crazy to see them bringing in totally new tracks with a crane!  Hopefully after this weekend they'll be done with this project and I look forward to a smooth ride on the new tracks :)

The best burek in town!

Last night we tried a Balkan restaurant (Djerdan Burke, 34-04 31st Ave) that boasts that it has the best burek in town.  And it does (sample size=1)! Neither of us had eaten a burek before, but it's delicious!  Somewhat similar to spanikopita and burekas, this dish has a thin flaky philo dough shell and can be filled with several different items (cheese, spinach, meats).  According to an article that was framed on their wall, in Sarajavo restaurants specializing in bureks are analogous to pizza places in New York.  Who knew!

We opted for a cheese burek and coupled it with a yummy beef goulash dish that was perfectly spiced.  Definitely will be coming back here to try other bureks and Bosnian specialties!