Cheap 'n' Choosy Chelsea

YESTERDAY I mentioned the donate-what-you-will daily yoga class at Laughing Lotus . I did my second session this week, as one can, when a class is affordable and you're paid a Northwest salary in NYC. The studio is on the third floor of an old building with an old lift and a big, cheerful orange and pink banner out front. The 1 1/4 hour 'community class', offered at 2.30pm each week day, is taught by student or "blossoming" teachers, as they are called. The suggested donation on the website is $5.50, yet I understand attendees donate between $0 and the standard class price of $11, depending on their capacity. The donations are directed each month to a charity of the school's choosing - it was the Obama campaign at one time, the Tsunami another. It's heated - great in winter - who needs Bikrim? It walls are painted with soft yet vibrant colors, depicting deities like Ganesha , "Lord of success and destroyer of evil and obstacles ... an elepha

Welcome Skintsters, to Cheap 'n' Choosy. This blog was originally inspired by an article I wrote for the Eugene Weekly's Back to Campus Guide in 2005 . Eugene is the land of the sliding scale, bartering for babysitting and 1001 different ways to make tofu palatable. It abounds with sub-5-10 dollar options to make you forget you're stuck in Eugene, like the amazing Pizza Research Institute's Vegan Chef Special slice, $4 , or the Keystone Cafe's famous sesame oat pancake . Even $10 is a big night out there, so the hunt for the superlative yet sub-$5 life experience has become my own private Idaho, ever since leaving Australia in 1997 to travel the world on a folding bicycle . Since then I've been sharing my finds for the discerning yet frugal fashionista, foodie and funseeker in my general Galfromdownunder blog . But today, while partaking of a $3.50 cup of the dangerously addictive New England Chowder at the Lobster Place in Manhattan's Chelsea Market,