Sweaty Delicious

It's official. New York City in July has been pure scorching hell.

You walk around through the streets, and all you see are uncomfortable people trying their best not to move as much so as not to sweat through their clothes. It's disgusting, I know. That's how this city is during the summertime. The humidity is unbearable, especially for someone like me who's not very fond of the heat. I grew up in warm Puerto Rico but never really got used to its year-round hot climate. One of the reasons I chose to study at Syracuse University - besides its great Communications school - was the fact that I'd be able to experience an entirely different environment to that of my own upbringing.

New York summers can truly aggravate and infuriate people very easily. Within the context of a given everyday routine (going to and from work, for example), the heat can become the main instigator in ruining one's commute. You feel sticky, tired, and not very clean. You try to avoid eye contact with people so that they don't notice what a sweaty mess you are. Then, when you do get to your destination, you're in dire need of a change of shirt and feel like a grimy outcast when the air conditioning at work barely cools you off. Overall, it's just an awful situation to be in.

However, in a different environment, these same unbearable conditions can also bring about a surprisingly enjoyable time - even if you feel like your skin is melting off! This summer has already delivered record-setting hot days, yet they've been accentuated by the plethora of activities this city has to offer. Not only have the warm weekends enabled me to enjoy the boroughs in their "full splendor" (so to speak), but they have also coaxed me into indulging in excessive amounts of food...

I attended the Coney Island Mermaid Parade with my friends Evan and Eleanor about a month ago, and it made for quite a beautiful and bright afternoon. After we watched the procession of half-naked men and women in mermaid regalia, my stomach began to growl loudly, so I proceeded to slither past the crowd in front of Nathan's and bought myself two hot dogs. Given the hot weather, I downed the food with a very cold PBR (a surprisingly expensive one) in a matter of seconds. The two hot dogs definitely staved off my hunger, but minutes later when we left the boardwalk, I realized that I was still unsatisfied and the blistering sun was taking its toll on me. Thus, I followed the "dogs" from Nathan's with an ice cream cone and a few bites of a funnel cake Eleanor had ordered. By that point, the ice cream had totally revitalized me and cooled me off; I was as pleased as I could be. Still, my friends wanted to get more food, so we took the subway to Metropolitan Avenue and had a bountiful late lunch at Fette Sau, an unbelievable BBQ spot nestled in an inconspicuous driveway in Williamsburg. The place exudes a bare-bones 'Americana' spirit - wooden picnic tables and local beers served in jars - as well as a laid back and communal, family-friendly vibe. Surprisingly enough, I ate a hefty amount of food there (pulled pork with bread rolls and potato salad) despite having already eaten a lot just an hour before. The cold Coney Island lager I drank definitely complemented the delicious food, and the overall experience was doubly enhanced because the place itself was a great "find."

Weeks later, Eleanor, Evan and I made another trip to Brooklyn on another pitch-perfect-yet-humid Saturday, this time to see the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. Before going in, though, we crossed the street to Washington Avenue and had lunch at The Islands, a cramped Jamaican food joint with the tastiest jerk chicken I've ever had. After struggling to understand the servers' thick accents - and waiting a while for our orders to be ready - we took the food and sat outside the museum, where we enjoyed the jerk chicken along with rice and beans, curried goat, and an incredibly refreshing ginger lemonade. Once we saw the Warhol works, we strolled through Prospect Park and hitched a subway ride back to Astoria, where we spent the evening at Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden, drinking Krusovice (Czech) beer and yes, eating more food - potato pancakes and dumplings.

Throughout these days spending time around the boroughs, the weather was relentless in making every inch of my body feel sluggish and grimy. The less I thought about how sweaty I was, the better...yet, in an odd way, the very act of being outside all day and trying delicious new food around the city turned the uncomfortable aspects - i.e., the blistering heat and the constant sweating - into a somewhat playful obstacle to control and endure. In a rigid schedule, the hot summer climate in NYC becomes anti-productive and affects one's sense of comfort and social interaction. An office setting where there's no air conditioning (while it's 100 degrees outside) can quickly shift from being a dynamic working environment to an awkward and alienating one where everyone turns bitter and puts off work to pout by their lonesome.

Then - when that routine is no longer in effect and we delve outside to enjoy our surroundings, the suffocating heat is not a dire impediment anymore because it falls in tandem with the "fun-ness" of the adventure itself. Sitting at an office cubicle with no A.C., I would've probably eaten the bare minimum for lunch so as not to move as much and become even messier. Outside around the boroughs, however, my atttitude was similar to that of a young kid playing in a backyard - grimy, unkempt and totally unrestrained to do (and eat!) anything.

Summertime - in this city in particular - does that to you. I mean, seriously - where else can a mild-mannered twenty-four year old binge on hot dogs, ice cream, pulled pork and potato salad while also being able to eat authentic Jamaican and Czech cuisine located a few miles apart?

Could L.A. ever pull this off? I don't think so. It's not sweaty enough.