Haven’t heard those salsa commercials for a while, but I will never get over the way the cowboys would pronounce New York City. They put an unnatural accent on the third word in “New York CITY,” as a loud, incredulous question. Their point was that you cannot make an authentic TexMex salsa in someplace as foreign as New York City.
But I love New York and there are actually many ethnically authentic restaurants. I bet that NYC has more restaurants per capita than any other city in the world. New York is all about being an international melting pot and the tolerance, if not celebration, of different cultures.
My own grandparents were immigrants who came to America on a big ship and went through Ellis Island. I hope to one day go to the government processing facility on Ellis Island and see if I can find a record of my grandparents when they came here.
When I go to New York, one of the best parts will be the chance to spend time in coffee shops and local delis, hanging out with people who live and work in the Big Apple. It seems like a totally different world from where I live and spend my time, and it sounds exciting to be a part of it.
