I’ve managed to churn out two blogs within weeks of each other. Lovie headed off to Wisconsin on Wednesday for his 40th high school reunion and to visit his family. It is good that he gets to spend time with his sister, especially since she’s been through a lot lately. His sister is recovering from cancer surgery and her favorite aunty passed away. I dropped lovie at the airport. I went to investigate this high-end grocery store my sister found online. I had never heard of it and was pleasantly surprised by the discovery. The gourmet selection was impressive, with mouth-watering lunch options and made-in-house frozen family meals.
The store also carried a delightful range of high-end candles, soaps, and journals. The desserts seemed to pale in comparison to the other offerings. A’Tavola is a hidden gem and worth visiting if you find yourself in Boise, Idaho.

It feels like the world is starting to emerge from hibernation. We are finally venturing out and trying new eateries. Boise has such a great variety of cuisine. A few weeks ago, we went to a Puerto Rican restaurant called Wepo. I love Latin American cuisine. It is so flavorful with no spiciness.

The week after that, we dined at this adorable little Russian place called Alonka. It was a total contrast to the Puerto Rican food, but also delicious. If I had to choose between Borscht and steak, I’d go for the Borscht any day of the week. The cabbage rolls were so delicious.

This weekend was Lovie’s birthday, and we celebrated at a restaurant chain called Land Ocean. The service was impeccable, and the food was absolutely delectable. Writing about local eateries could be an interesting addition to my blog. After contracting Covid almost a year ago, I’ve had ongoing challenges with my sense of taste. Foods I once enjoyed now will randomly taste disgusting. Despite this, I still love the experience of dining out and trying new things.

Let’s switch gears and take a break from tempting your taste buds. Lately, I’ve been delving into several creative ventures. I have crafted musical notebooks, art journals, coloring books, children’s storybooks, and more. AI art generators have helped me to ignite my imagination and create three storybooks for kids. I’m currently putting the final touches on my fourth storybook and it should be available for purchase within the next few days. Many different sources have been so helpful in sparking my creativity. I made music notebooks with blank music manuscripts for individuals to record their own musical masterpieces. I crafted notebooks designed for aspiring mixologists. At present, I’m working on a journal catering to traveling foodies and chefs – which should be available by the end of this weekend.My pen names are Ollie and Joon Moon for the kiddy storybooks and Ada Ihoda for the journals on Amazon. I’m excited about the assortment of genres and themes I have developed. Be sure to check out some of my creations using the links listed below.

Let me tell you about our adventure into the NYC rental market. Our kiddo’s lease is about to expire and he has to move because his roomie is leaving to go to grad school. We suggested that he should live alone in a studio for the first time. He has always had roomies since he was a freshman at NYU. He has to be out of his current apartment by the end of the month. We quickly discovered that the rental market in Manhattan is insane. He really wanted to stay within his neighborhood. He saw some subpar apartments, and he finally found a studio. That’s when the fun and games began…NYC is a pretty shitty place to live, if you ask me – and it got even shittier when the leasing agents no longer had Covid restrictions and could rob people blind with a charge of 15% of a full year of rent as a finders fee. Fees add up quickly, especially when you’re on a limited budget like our kiddo. How do they expect young people to pay the first and last month’s rent, along with $4900 for the agent? Not a bad con game if you can get away with it. You meet someone at a property for about 15 min and fill out the paperwork and then you can cash in a huge finder’s fee. We are not talking about a luxury condo. This is a fifth-floor walk-up studio in a building built in 1900.
The insane amount of financial information they required from us as guarantors was ridiculous. You would think a W2 and an excellent credit score should have been sufficient. We had to provide such a ridiculous amount of information just to rent a small fifth-floor walk-up studio. This is NYC but they are not sophisticated enough to offer DocuSign for the lease. The agent made our kiddo sign and mail the lease to us. The kiddo paid $100 to get it here overnight for lovie to sign as guarantor and UPS managed to lose it. The package took four days to arrive. It had been left behind at the UPS depot in Brooklyn. It took four days to arrive in Idaho. Lovie signed and had it back in NY within 24 hours of receipt. Our kiddo is moving in at the end of the month.
That’s all I’ve got for today. Welcome all of the new people who’ve stumbled upon my blog. I hope that you will visit here often.