Cookie Cutters, Pastry Bags and Parking Angst

Today was a work-at-home-day and I decided to pop over to Broadway Panhandler for some supples. And also to Sur la Table, because it's right near by and they have these very beautiful snowflake cookie cutters (above) in stock. And hey, I may not be Kuidaore, but I can dream, no?

I don't actually own a car. I mean, why would I? I can walk no further than a mile in any direction (or take a bus or subway) and find pretty much anything I can imagine wanting to buy, eat, see or do. Occasionally I rent a car--either because my job sometimes requires that I commute to New Jersey for several months or because I simply want to run errands. It's a good solution, actually, and the sporadic expense of renting is much, much less expensive than the ongoing expense of ownership. Car payments and insurance seem like a ludicrous expenditure in a city like New York.

But here is the thing. Parking is insane. Either you're spending a ridiculous amount to put the damned car in a lot or a garage or you're on the street. If you're on the street in SoHo you're probably parked illegally.

I won't get into the hell I went through to get parked and into the stores (I'm saving the hell stories for later), but I will tell you that I snagged some very cool stuff, including:

Those gorgeous copper cookie cutters

A very adorable mini pie ornament (which reminds me to plug The Mini Pie Revolution!)

A new flour sifter (my old one broke about fifteen years ago and I have been using a fine mesh sieve ever since, which is really dumb because it's messy and extremely boring to hit it with a wooden spoon hundreds of times until all of the dry ingredients have sifted through

New pastry bags and tips

Scalloped edge biscuit/cookie cutter rounds

Pretty sugars for sprinkling and white pearl dragees (the silver ones are nearly impossible to find anymore)

A mini muffin tin

All in all, a good shopping trip and mission accomplished.

But then I had to drive home and park again in Brooklyn. This involves a ritual directly related to alternate-side parking restrictions and mainly consisting of two activities: 1) driving in ever-widening circles around and around the neighborhood in a vain attempt to park on the non-street cleaning scheduled side of the street and ultimately failing; so that 2) you are doomed to a (usually failed) early morning dash to move the car (in ever widening circles) before receiving a ticket.

Sometimes you manage to park on the correct side of the street and then rejoice in knowing you can forget all about the car until that side of the street is due to be cleaned. This is rare and not always without problems. One evening I snagged a "good spot," meaning no early morning car shuffling and did, indeed, rejoice. The next morning I had a meeting in Manhattan and took the subway to work with a clear conscience. That afternoon, walking home, I passed the car and noted that it was completely blocked by a large municipal truck full of gravel, a small steam-roller thingy, several orange traffic cones, a wooden sawhorse-like barrier and a group of extremely angry men gesticulating and swearing at said vehicle. It seemed that the city had decided to fill the rather large pothole I was parked over. It also seemed that the angry men were in the process of calling a tow truck. I walked slowly, trying to hear what the plan was while also trying to look completely disconnected from the situation.

"I already called the tow," I heard, "be an hour at least. Let's go get something to eat."

I walked on, ducked into the doorway of my building, and watched until they drove off in the truck. Scuttling furtively back down the street, I assessed the situation. They'd left the steamroller, the cones and the sawhorse--presumably to pen the car in until the tow truck could arrive. I shoved the sawhorse out of the way, squeezed past the steamroller, and flattened the cones as I left. Frankly, I was more concerned about escape than respecting municipal property. Of course I then found myself driving in ever-widening circles...

Sometimes you're parked perfectly legally and find that someone had decided to MAKE A MOVIE WITHOUT ANY NOTICE OR WARNING SIGNS. You die a little inside when you realize the car is not there anymore. If you're really lucky you find that it's been towed to a new spot around the corner instead of just... towed.

Sometimes you think you've found a good spot and then realize yours was the minority opinion when the car disappears completely. I can't tell you how many websites I had to visit and numbers I had to call to track the thing down. It was a lot worse than driving in ever-widening circles. Every tow yard in New York claimed they didn't have it. Yet when I finally reported it stolen, it took the police about 30 seconds to find that it had been towed. To make a long, painful and convoluted story short, I'll just say that the paperwork containing the order to tow originated from the police but was missing when I visited the station; the tow yard could not release the car until the police authorized it; the police could not authorize release because the paperwork was missing; I was considered a nobody because I did not actually own the car. This went on for days, while I was still paying for the car, until finally I told the rental company I had no intention of paying beyond the moment I'd informed them of the problem. To this day I have no idea whether or not they ever got the damned thing back. I still have the keys on my desk as a reminder.

I think I'll go make some cookies now.

Comments

[Manggy]

AHEM! Using a strainer is not dumb. I don't hit it with a spoon, though: I flick my wrist side-to-side extremely quickly. Two cups of flour go down fast. It amazed my non-baking friend/rival so much he asked to sift the rest of the flour, trying to get it to go as quickly as I did. (Okay, he was weird.) Sorry Ann :) but I just had to defend my methods! I couldn't imagine using those sifters; I think my forearm would get sore pumping that thing over and over, plus they seem to get broken really easily and are a chore to clean thoroughly.

I can't believe they can just DO that to your car. That is amazing to me. (Of course, there are taxis parked AT THE CORNER next to my house. Nobody cares.) Can't wait to see what you've baked!

[french tart]

oh man! this reminds me so much of living in paris. my parents had a car for a couple of years, if only so that we could do weekend family jaunts to normandy and whatnot. of course, the minute i got my drivers license, i was voted as the one who had to run out and move the car/park the car/find the car after it had been towed. and the one humorous-yet-not-so-funny day when the car did get stolen and my mom and i walked around the neighborhood for 6 hours thinking that maybe we just forgot where the car was parked (the car turned up in Greece).

my parents figured after years of hauling me around, they were due a reprieve.

i feel for you!

[Pasticcera]

Those snowflake cutters are to die for. I love cookie cutters. I see I have some catching up to do on your posts. I love the kitchen article and very much my style. I tried to look up the chip pan on the link to the store in the UK, I think, awhile back and it didn't go there, but it might have been the internet here and not the link. I need to try it again. I just want to see what a proper chip pan looks like as I have read it described in a few books and haven't been able to get my head round what exactly it is, but will keep trying. Thanks for heading over to the Italian alps out my way.....

[Jack]

Pasticerra - I just fixed that chip pan link. Take a look here before they mess with it again!

http://www.legendcookshop.co.uk/images/horw/jj83.jpg

[Adele]

Oh my. Your ordeals in finding parking only serve to further convince me that the city is no place to drive. (Which means I can put off learning to drive for a few more years.)

On a more cheerful note, those are beautiful cookie cutters. :)

[Cakespy]

When I was a student at Pratt, I lived at Norman and Jewel in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and one of the (very few) times I have driven in the city was when I was moving out of that apartment. On the day I drove in to pack up my stuff, there was a water main break so I had to park 6 blocks away. And carry all of my stuff. Have I mentioned the apartment was a 4th floor walkup?

Ohhh driving in the city.

The cute ornament makes up for some of that craziness though! :-)

[Scotty]

It's why I love living in the suburbs. Everything may not be at hand, but travel only requires suicide once or twice a day!

[Maryann]

Hi! This is my first introduction to your site. I live in the suburbs of the city but have friends who live inside and just refuse to get a car for the same reasons you stated. But those cookie cutters are very cute! Happy Holidays!

[Karyn]

Love the cookie cutters! I want to buy some myself - I'm on the look-out for penguin-shaped cookie cutters. I love making animal-shaped cookies : I'd also like moose, seals, and ponies. But anything aside from stars, people, and trees are hard to find around here . . . .

[Sophie]

What a funny story! I can't believe you went through all that just to get your cookie supplies ready. Looking forward to those cookies, though. :-)

[Ann]

Manggy, well I find that a sifter works WAY faster and I don't feel as if I am playing some sort of odd percussion instrument! :-)

frenchtart, your parents weren't dumb... make the kid with the new license do it! I have also wandered around in the mornings because I couldn't remember where I put the car. It's always such a relief to find it and stop worrying that it's been towed. :-)

Pasticerra, I'm looking forward to making the snowflake cookies... when I finish the mince pies... :-) Glad you like the piece on MyFrenchKitchen's kitchen. I think she has a wonderful eye. Jack will be in your part of the world in February skiing with friends.

Adele, I used to live in Boston and found that driving there was FAR more challenging than driving in New York. The parking was easier (in my area), but the other drivers... C-R-A-Z-Y!

cakespy, I knew you'd gone to school at Pratt but had no idea you lived in my neighborhood! When did you leave? And a 4th floor walk-up? Phffffffft! I'm in a 6th floor walk-up! :-)

Scotty, well the nice thing about the city is that driving isn't necessary at all. Something I should remember. :-)

Maryann, thanks for stopping by and nice to meet you! Outside of which city are you living?

Karyn, Sur la Table has every shape of cookie cutter you can imagine. And you can order online, too (though the online selection is limited). I know I saw penguin and giraffs there...

Sophie, And we'll be making cookies just as soon as you get out of bed, lazyhead. :-) xxoxx

[french tart]

Karyn, i have a penguin shaped cookie cutter that I never use. if sur la table doesn't have any, i'd be willing to give it to you gratis.

i just have to go find it now... in the garage in a box under two boxes of books we never unpacked.

[Ann]

frenchtart, you rawk!

[Zenchef]

Oh my God! I feel for you. I drive everyday into the city and i know exactly what you're talking about. It's so much stress to own a car in NY!

[ann]

I just had to read the majority of this post out loud to Isaac because it's so funny, painful, and oh so New York. I had a professor in college who lived in a neighborhood of Philadelphia that had a very famous Mummers troupe. Many of the men in this troupe worked for various municipal authorities in Philly and so, when they decided it was time to practice they could, with very little trouble, have all the cars on the street towed to pretty much anywhere they wanted. I can't count the number of times my poor professor would show up to class late and flustered because she had just spent the last two hours trying to find her car. Most of the time she never found it and would have to report it as stolen. She always got it back though! So funny, thanks so much for the story Ann!

[myfrenchkitchen]

Oh...just the normal everyday traffic and parkingages me. I can't even start thinking of living in a city! I loved your "great escape", it is funny! Thanks for this story, I'll never complain about the traffic and parking here in my town again!
ronell

[Ann]

Zenchef, ridiculous, isn't it? :-)

Ann, glad you enjoyed the story... it really takes another New Yorker to truly get it, I think...

Ronell, city dwellers are weird, no doubt about it. Just look at what we're willing to tolerate! The funny thing is that I lived on a farm in a rural area before I moved here... and I loved it absolutely. I love the city, though, too. I must have an affinity for extremes. :-)

[Susan]

Thanks for the tip on Broadway Panhandler. I usually go to Bridge Kitchenware in midtown, but I rather kick around downtown.

[Maryann]

THE city! NYC..haha