chinese new year, part 1

I live downtown, in an area that is slowly becoming Chinatown, a fight between the historic and online declared borders of neighborhoods (and the new immigrants: people my age) and the actual shop, restaurant, and citizen inhabitants.  Walk down one street on my block--some amazing dumplings stoops, places to get your hair cut for $5 (where your stylist might not speak English), open air markets that sell some unsightly food like fish and durian.

A lot of people complain about Chinatown's slowly creeping expansion (mostly those who don't like the aforementioned fish smells, particularly in the heat of summer), but I love Chinatown's defiant refusal to acclimate to the universal culture of the rest of Manhattan.  You won't find any Starbucks, or Duane Reades, or Equinox gyms in that area, and that's kind of the beauty of it.  Walking past the durian fruit sellers every morning on my way to the subway makes me a little homesick for Southeast Asia, in a good way.

Anyways, I was excited to check out the Chinese New Year parade this year.  I still haven't made it out to Flushing, but figured I should take advantage of my current apartment location and walk a mere 2 blocks to see the Manhattan parade.  It was one of the first warm days of the winter, warm enough to declare "no coats!" but cold enough to regret that later in the afternoon.  We rounded out the evening with bao, soup, and more Chinese food: a delicious ending to our Year of the Goat festivities!