Lip-smackin' good

Aside from the unrelenting humidity, I really like summertime in New York. Yeah, yeah, so the streets smell and there are ten million tourists clogging up the sidewalks with their fannypacked cluelessness. These drawbacks are easily offset by the opportunities to see free performances by Rachid Taha:















And to stroll around the Arthur Avenue market with luminaries such as Chazz Palminteri. (He is not pictured in these photos, but he really was there, holding court with a bunch of admirers and eating...I dunno, figs or something.)


















Despite my semi-regular travels to the Bronx, I'd never been in the market before. It was kind of weird. I wasn't sure what to make of the cigar-makers who sit there all day rolling cigars, or the legions of men who seemed to be just sitting around drinking cappuccinos. It was almost as though I had wandered into a movie set, and everyone was busying themselves trying to look "authentic" rather than actually being authentic. Before I snapped the pic above, a number of Italian tourists had been sitting in the pine-colored chairs, and I wondered what they thought of the Disney-style Italianness on display there. I'd imagine it was very confusing.

Eh, whatever. The pistachio gelatto was delectable, the day was sunny, and overall, gee it was good.