Tag Archives: #good-day

Cry coffee

A Green Bean Cafe coffee in a Beck household mug.

It’s a bit unfair that I never cited my smoothie joint for its very fine coffee.

Sometimes you just don’t think of your relationship that way. Truth is I get a coffee with my tofu scramble breakfast special. Truth is I really enjoy it.

It’s going to be 50-50 for me sitting at one of the Green Bean Cafe’s outdoor tables or dragging the breakfast home.

Tofu makes a great egg alternative, when it subs in for the scrambled variety. I make a couple of meals from the one breakfast.

The home fries wait their turn for a dinner in which I add cocktail tomatoes to the pan while reheating. The 7 grain toast is a next day breakfast with or without hummus, and sometimes as a mini grilled cheese.

BTW, as a rule what’s described above subs in for home cooking in my kitchen.

The Green Bean serves fresh coffee, brewing up a clean pot every 30 minutes. For their iced coffee, they do as I do which is to keep a carafe in the fridge so it’s nice and cold before ice. The coffee, which is proudly organic, is mythically robust yet never bitter.

While there, ask for a Heartfelt Smoothie or a Jolty Green Giant (the “t” is an apt typo.)

A special breakfast

As a rule, I don’t make it to the breakfast special at Effy’s which ends at 10am. Hallelujah, I am here today.

Drizzly weather encouraged me to grab the early bus. I stopped by on my way to a workout.

Effy’s at 88th and York by Asphalt Green. Breakfast special @ 7.95 is 2 eggs toast home fries and good coffee.” Note to self put Effy’s on my coffee trail!

Ghostly quiet

Okay. To be honest this is another tease.

Actually, I wanted to share an article by my friend Dr. Arline who has nothing but your best interests for a quieter and more peaceful environment.

It appears that New Yorkers have learned patience from the pandemic.

Those alternate side of the street sits are being handled with more grace and poise. Of course all the devices we own and use help. One parker had her dog at the curbside and a tablet with a board game. (Wonder if her dog plays chess.) Another waited with a newspaper and ear buds. Time appeared to be suspended for them.

Incidentally, grooming is coming back along with the mask-free look. Actually, hair and beards have been trim and neat for sometime now. There was the initial shock of the pandemic when men’s facial hair was a reflection of the chaos we all felt but then the barbers got busy.

Frankly

East 86th Street

It’s been a fixture on this corner for lo so many years. There is another iconic site on the Westside as well. That one on 72nd and Broadway has even starred in some films.

Since Papaya King on 3rd Avenue has announced its impending closure there have been lines waiting for service. One is gathering here at 10:15 in the morning. Franks and juice drinks are flying off the griddle and out the spout these days. It wasn’t this busy before the landlord made plans to demolish.

The river

Riverboats roil the waters
Oh, not the riverboats you
Are envisioning, just the
Ordinary summer Sunday 
Traffic that a river in the
American northeast sees.
Our riverboats are the ones
With sails furled while a 
Motor runs them up or
Down or they are ferrying
Sightseers and citizens
Alike or on patrol passing
Slow-moving transport
Ships or just slightly gaudy
Fishing boats not trawling
For fish but amusing a crew
Of revellers in a holiday spirit.
After all, it is Sunday and we 
Have our day off and it is the
Last days of summer we want
To enjoy and celebrate here 
On a Sunday on the river