An Afternoon in Flushing

Today I needed to walk and clear out the brain a bit...and one of my favorite walks is in Flushing. I parked my car close to the Queens Botanical Gardens (Elder Ave & Main Street) then walk down Main Street towards Roosevelt Avenue. I love all the Halal grocery stores, the Patel Brothers Supermarket, Chinese coffee shops & bakeries, and the Sari shops that line up as I make my way down Main Street. As you get closer to the 7 train stop, you enter into the "China town of Queens". And the Asian supermarkets are incredible with aisles of noodles, dried seaweed, sauces, oils and bags of dried mushrooms and herbs. However, be prepared to see live creatures in the fish department...as in frogs, turtles, eels, etc. Quite disturbing for me, so I tend to avoid that section of the market.

But today I ended up eating at the Nan Xiang Dumpling House, located at: 38-12 Prince St
Flushing, NY 11354. Dumplings...fried rice cakes...noodle soups...this place has comfort food like none other. I decided to stay on the healthier spectrum and ordered the steamed vegetable dumplings and soybean tofu salad. These were the most perfect dumplings, and I also loved the edamame with the dry spiced tofu, scallions, chilis and chopped greens:

Soybean Tofu Salad

Steamed Vegetable Dumplings

Sari Shop on Main Street

Chinese Supermarket on my walk down Main Street

Herb/Tea Shop

In Queens for the Week

There's just no place like Queens...I am a born and bred Queens girl who moved to St. Petersburg, Florida about 2 years ago. And there are plenty of wonderful things about St. Pete that I am discovering. But Queens is just its own amazing planet of diversity! And I am so happy to be here this week, enjoying my favorite eateries, grocery stores and discount stores:

Noodles at Han ah Rheum supermarket in Flushing

Queens has been considered the most diverse place in the world, and that manifests from enclaves of various nationalities in the many neighborhoods: Greeks in Astoria, Asians in Flushing, Indians and South Americans in Jackson Heights, etc. And of course those are just generalizations...Queens over all is a luscious melting pot of many many different countries, people, restaurants and shops, all bunched up together.

One of the first things I do when coming back to Queens is to get a cafe con leche and a guava cheese pastry at one of the many latin bakeries in Jackson Heights. Yesterday, I was at Cositas Ricas on Roosevelt Ave., and their "Chicharron de Guayaba" was fabulous...and thankfully my mom was there to share it with me :)


Oh the food trucks in Jackson Heights....I still need to learn more about what kind of food each one represents: Mexican,Guatemalan, Ecuadorean, etc...this will be a new food frontier for me!

And the discount stores...looking for a new fall wardrobe but don't have lots of $? Some sexy underwear? Blingy, shiny jewelry? Leopard print shoes? Then head to 82nd Street in Jackson Heights. There's a 7 train stop right there. Discount stores lined up, reggaeton playing loud, mannequins with big boobs and ample butts displaying tight jeans, or halloween costumes, or lingerie! You can find anything and everything. I especially like "Fever" for under garments and socks ;) And the $5 discount shoe outlet also has some great finds...

Cositas Ricas in Jackson Heights

Food Truck in Jackson Height

A Day's shopping on 82nd Street