Tricks

I saw this on Swiss Miss and couldn't help but laugh. I have all kinds of tricks like this that I don't even really think of, and I love whenever I find out about others'. (DH has some good ones.)

New York Cheat Sheets

Christopher Niemann

All New Yorkers develop tricks that allow them to stay ahead of the pack in
daily life. These are generally tightly guarded secrets, but now that I don’t
live in New York, I have generously decided to share some of mine. What follows
are a few handy charts that will, I hope, help readers to improve their
lives.

In the morning, I used to take the 2 or 3 train from Clark Street to get to my studio in Manhattan’s meatpacking district. Here’s some advice, if you happen to make that commute, too: When you get off the elevator at the Clark Street station, go down the stairs to the left. On the platform, make a sharp left; this will position you directly behind a column (A). It’s pretty close to the tracks, so there will be very few people around, thereby improving your chances of getting on, even at rush hour. If you happen to bring a newspaper, use one door further up (B).

When you arrive the at 14th Street station and step off, you’ll be near the 13th Street exit, and the door will open right in front of the stairs (C). If you chose the newspaper option mentioned above, the door will open in front of a convenient trash can, where you can discard your paper (D) before leaving the subway system.

My favorite breakfast spot in New York is a little coffee shop on Eighth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets. It has a lemon poppy muffin that is absolutely divine when fresh — and tastes like drywall when not. The easiest way to test for freshness, of course, is to poke the crust, which would be wrong. Fortunately, you can ethically conduct the freshness test by poking the paper muffin cup at one specific point, at about two-thirds of the height of the base. Lower or higher poking doesn’t yield reliable results.