Soha and Cutchogue

Before studying abroad and leaving your home for four months, they say to bring little mementos with you so when you get lonely, you can look back and see something familiar. For me, I've decided to bring the personal photos (i.e. pictures of my family, friends, boyfriend...) with me in hard copy. But for everything else, all the other pictures of the familiar blocks, quite literally, of my life, I'd like to post. The first few pictures are of my neighborhood in NYC on the UWS (for non-New Yorkers, that's shorthand for Upper West Side). As I don't live in a trendily named area like Tribeca or Soho, my family and I decided that we should come up with a chic name for the corner of the city we inhabit. And thus, Soha was coined. Like Soho (south of Houston), Soha stands for south of Harlem. Spanish Harlem, actually. Spotted with Spanish bodegas and statues of African American heros like Duke Ellington and Frederick Douglass, Soha has become an up-and-coming neighborhood for families and students. It doesn't hurt to have the rare view of trees, either.

The other photographs are taken in Cutchogue and Southold in Long Island. A weekend in Cutchogue is paradise during the summer, the beaches offering an escape from the unbearable heat and thick air of the city. Professional photographers, please excuse my amateur shots. I bought myself a fancy camera a few months ago and I'm still in the process of learning how to use it. Maybe I never will, but at least I'll look cool with it strapped around my arm this fall. Enjoy!

Between updown and downtown on 74th street, a little bit a greenery peaks in

A man selling hats on the street. I love street vendors. You really can find some treasures.

Almost as good as Hot and Crusty.

If there's one thing I love more than the smell of books, it's the smell of old books. I can spend hours in a used book store just browsing and taking in the musty scent of the yellowed pages around me.

Another small pleasure I enjoy in used book stores--looking through old classics and seeing what people have written in the margins. Little notes, highlighted or underlined sentences...it's interesting to see how other people interpreted those cryptic lines.

Another hard day's work for this street vendor. 

A cement staircase in Morningside Park on 110th street. Aren't big staircases so beautiful?

They were working on this building for the past 10 years it feels like. I was walking by and finally noticed the lack of construction material. After 10 years, I must say they've done a good job. I can't tell you what exactly this building is...if it's attached to the Cathedral Church or if it's a condo. Either way, I've nicknamed it Chateau de Soha

Kruspski's farm stand in Cutchogue. This area of Long Island is packed with farm stands selling real food. It might not be USDA organic, but the strawberries are normal sized (they don't look like apples) and the corn naturally tastes like butter. You can eat it raw.

A little dock in Cutchogue

Cedar Beach, Southold

Welcome, Musers!

As this is my premier blog post, I would like to say a few words about what this little blog is going to impart to my readers. There is no central theme--I'm not going to focus on one specific element, rather I'm going to use this blog to share my experiences living abroad, in a culture very different from my own, and comment religiously on my three unvarying interests: food, fashion, and travel. I won't paint myself as an expert in any of these domains, but I do intend to commit myself to following these passions of mine wherever they take me. I will hunt for the best Paris croissant as determinedly as I did scrounging for the best New York bagel (Absolute bagels, 2788 Broadway). I'll photograph the Parisian men and women responsible for Paris's well-deserved claim as the fashion capital of the world. And I promise that I will uncover that je ne sais quoi about the French lifestyle that keeps people wanting more.