Nica’s Market is a hub of graduate student activity, conveniently located in the heart of East Rock (colloquially: “the grad student ghetto”). I live just above East Rock. I think of my location as above East Rock mainly because you have to go up a hill to get to it.
We all know about Nica’s, probably because of its location. We all visit Nica’s about once a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. We find ourselves gravitating toward certain items on the extensive menu, certain things in the display case, goodies that we know we can find in the claustrophobic little shelves.
It was toward the beginning of my tenure in the Phillips group that I headed to Nica’s with a collection of my coworkers, tentatively becoming friends, filtering through the aisles. Kate mentioned that she liked the breakfast sandwich, which was something that I had discovered with my mother when we were apartment-hunting. A steal, because for $2.50 you could have a buttery egg on a hard roll or whole wheat bread with a slab of cheese melting on it and several thick slices of bacon.
But Kate swore by the croissant, and I had to give that a try. Because for an extra $1.50, you get your egg concoction in between layers of buttery, flaky croissant. And it is grand.
Other items of note include the lovely mozzarella salad (with halved grape tomatoes and basil), the chicken parmesan sub with breaded chicken breast drowning in melted mozzarella, and tomato sauce on an oven-crisped sub, any of the paninis, and the cheesecakes (but only on special occasion).
Nica’s also has fantastic gelato in the summertime, and you can buy a little cup of it for about a dollar – better deal than the $6 pints of Ben & Jerry’s in the side freezers. And coffee, all the time. They have a hazelnut blend that I love, and sometimes if Kate finds herself in Nica’s in the morning, she’ll pick me up a hazelnut coffee that has a generous helping of half and half in it.
Segue!
On this month’s edition of “songs that are not about God so please stop pretending they are” we have our most two common offenders.
Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen. This song is about a broken relationship. Don’t let the lyrics about David fool you, because the fourth verse is about sex, the fifth verse is about how love hurts, and the sixth verse is about not knowing the name you’re taking in vain. Don’t sing this in church.
It’s a well-written song, it’s clever and beautiful, and the play on the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift will never get old. It is not a song to glorify God. Knock it off with that.
Bridge over Troubled Waters, by Simon and Garfunkel. There’s some argument about whether or not this is about heroin. I think it is about heroin. Of course they aren’t going to tell their listeners that it’s about drugs. Sail on silver girl seems far more likely to refer to a hypodermic needle than to a girlfriend concerned about finding some grey hairs.
It is a beautiful song, though. It also has a very gospel-type feel to it. So. There’s that.
This entry was written in two pieces, and it reads like it was written in two pieces.
I wonder if I will ever have a breakfast sandwich at Nica's again. Also, you should write again some day. Even if your segues are abrupt. Practice makes perfect. Still, there are times when I don't even bother to try to segue. I call it stream of consciousness.
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