Meeeeehhmories . . .

Oh New York.  I remembered you today when John went to the grocery store for me to pick up some items for Thanksgiving.  No Challah or Brioche at my local grocer?!  What?!  Where am I anyways - in the middle of nowhere (said in Brooklyn accent)? 

The dear Staten Island Costco had Challah and Brioche.  Costco in SI is like putting an Italian, Jewish, and Chinese grocer together in bulk form.  Costco in SI had three refridgerated isles devoted to cheese!  Costco in SI sold Chinese sausage in bulk.  Aaand there was a semi-permanent stand on the weekends where you could order sushi fresh!  Of course, doing any shopping between the hours of 6-8pm on the weekdays and Saturday morning was not meant for the weak of heart, and for some was a certain death wish.  Imagine the subway at rush hour but with shopping cart as a weapon.

On a side note, I'm certain that one of the ways to tell if you're a true New Yorker is if you can tell the difference between the borough accents.  Little did I realize that I had acquired (very slightly) the dreaded SI accent until I was speaking with a patient over the phone and he asked if I was from Staten Island!  Of course it's easier to fall into an accent when everyone around you is speaking with a similar one. 

The Brooklyn accent is currently the flavor of the day and can be heard anytime someone wants to impersonate a New Yorker.  At my old work place I recall the Long Island accent clearly, the Latina Harlem accent, the Upper West Side/East Side accent, the Queens accent.  Boy, oh boy.  The physician I worked for would announce his presence to the staff with a "What's goin' on?".  Of course the staff loved that kind of thing and would repeat it back in their own personalized dialect.

Great place that New York.  And that's with enough grains of salt to know what I'm sayin'.