New York in May 2014 : Arun Has A Blog

6 months late is better than never, right? I took these photos back in May. Let’s travel back in time!

I have been going to New York every May for the last 3 years. First, I travelled over to attend Chithra’s graduation. The second year, I came purely to hang out. This year, aside from my normal activities, I went to the Columbia Lambda Phi Epsilon installs banquet (also the 15 year celebration). It’s an event that I’ve blogged about before ¹ that sees the formal welcome of new brothers into the fraternity and the goodbyes to graduating seniors. 2014 was my first year attending as an alumnus.

Joining my fraternity has been one of the best decisions in my life. The people I can call my brothers are some of the smartest, most caring and most passionate people that I have ever met. Every time that I go back to New York, Lambdas make me feel at home.

This time, I was staying with Ethan and Andy, where many of us alumni met up before the banquet. Here we are taking the subway after failing to hail cabs or Ubers from Ethan and Andy’s place.

This was the fourth installs banquet that Caroline accompanied me to. She has always been the best date I could ask for.

The sheer number of people at the event was staggering. Soon after I crossed in my sophomore year, the house had 27 brothers. The house has almost doubled since then, leading to massive parties of 100+ people like this year’s banquet.

Fortunately, I was still able to hang out with the people closest to me

and reconnect with people in my line.

Events like these really prove that the connections you make in college can be life-long.

Hide-Chan Ramen

If you are reading this, you know that my favorite past time in New York is eating and ramen is often the food of choice.

In the last decade, competition among New York ramen joints has become fierce. All the while, New Yorkers have worked up a sophisticated and discerning appetite for the popular Japanese noodle dish. As a result, ramen restaurants, each with their own signature dishes and quirks have been opening up all over New York. Hide-Chan is just one of those places.

Hide-Chan is all about choices. You get to choose between no less than 7 different broths, 3 levels of richness in the broth and 5 different levels of noodle firmness. All those choices point to the focus of the food, noodles and broth. Hence, toppings are pretty minimal.

The best part of dinner wasn’t the food, but the company. Daily, I’m reminded of how lucky I am to have friends who share the same interests as me and take me to all the best places in town.

A Day Out With Caroline

Caroline and I take turns planning out days out every time we see each other. This time was my turn. We started the morning at Essex Street Market. We bought a slice of spanakopita and olive oil pear cake from Boubouki to eat for brunch. Learn more about the pear cake in the video below.

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We sat down at a table in a pretty sketchy park. Caroline took pictures of the food while I took pictures of her.

Afterwards, we Ubered over to the west side, where we played mini golf at Pier 25 and walked around a park. It’s not one of those classic mini golf places with the windmill and other themed holes. It’s pretty plain, but still worth the visit, considering the admission price and the fact that it isn’t a commercial operation.

I’ve noticed that my camera tends to trigger smiles in peoples’ faces. However, it seems to have the opposite effect on Caroline. She may be smiling one second, but once the camera is up to my face, that smile is immediately replaced by a blank stare.

This picture was taken at La Frite. Their fries are good, but I still prefer Pommes Frites since they have Poutine.