NYC: The Highlight Reel

I just now feel like I am recovering from my NYC trip, after dining on a nice big salad last night and taking a swell half-nap this afternoon. I present to you, sweet readers, the highlight reel:

• Digs: We stayed 2 doors down from the theater that's playing Hairspray and could see the Winter Garden sign (where Cats played) from the windows of the teeny (think 280 square feet) but very Zen 22nd-floor studio. It was really cool to be up that high, and great for peering into other peoples' windows.
  
• Ride: Took the sweet, sweet MetroNorth from Poughkeepsie. It was a wee bit slow but on the way back as we were riding along the choppy green Hudson and eating sandwiches made from crusty French bread, fresh mozzerella cheese, and really good salami, I sort of felt like we were in Italy, even though I've never been there.
  
• Eats: Had a delicious, filling-yet-light GIANT bowl of ramen noodles at a little place near the apartment that was filled almost entirely with Asian people. Lots of nibbly bits of deliciousness were floating in the broth.
• Had a delightful post-Frick salad at a basement tea shop. Tried the French vervain tea. Was like sipping at lemony springtime.
• Dined Saturday evening at one of PBS chef Lydia Bastianich's restaurants. JoyceFrances had the pasta special -- all you can eat of three homemade ones, including mushroom ravioli, while I had frutti di mare, with some white polenta. It hit the spot. But what really made my mouth sing was dessert, a sampler of some sort of divine chocolate mousse-y pie thing, some custard, and the best g-d ricotta cheesecake that I have ever eaten.
  
• Celebrity sightings: Apparently Bobby Flay was behind the open kitchen counter at his Bar Americain, where JoyceFrances had a drink and I had some chamomile tea and some pretty awesome creme brulee, but I think I need new glasses because all I could make out was a Bobby-Flay-shaped blob with Bobby-Flay-esqe hair.
• Culcha: Saw the Goya exhibit at the Frick (and toured the Frick, too). I preferred Goya's doodles to his portraits, whilst the main museum had some lovely John Singer Sargents and Vermeers and some huge, beautiful windows with brass hardware. If only living in such a place didn't require being anorexically thin and accepting that your husband will start f-ing the maid three years into your marriage.
  
• Non-food-related-yet-still-tasty nibbly bit 1: Went to dinner Saturday night in my four-inch heels, circle skirt, breasteses-flattering top, with leather jacket, fuzzy blue hat, and stripey scarf to keep warm. Was super windy and skirt kept blowing up. Elicited grins from several people on street and one woman in restaurant. Thought "Yes! I have achieved wry, sweet, sexy-wacky SITC look. Got back to apartment after dinner, looked into wall of mirrors in front of elevator, and realized I just looked crazy.
• NB 2: Was rapped at on the street by some boy holding up a wall. Don't remember rap exactly but it involved "I need to get myself a mamma in a green hat."
• NB 3: Was approached and subsequently hugged by stranger who was on a scavenger hunt. Am hoping that she really did need a picture of her "Hugging a stranger" as opposed to a picture of her "Hugging one of the wack jobs in Washington Square Park."
• NB 4: Also in WSP, visited two doggie runs, one for large doggies, which smelled horribly of pee, and one for small doggies, which didn't. Some of the small doggies came over to visit me and most were wearing swell outfits.
• NB 5: Overheard this snatch of cell-phone convo in WSP, where JoyceFrances and I sat for quite some time, just people-watching: "I bought two ape heads from a Hollywood studio, one for me and one for Ian."

All-in-all it was a great trip, although quite exhausting. There's a lot of stimulation in NYC, and we were staying in the stimulating-est part of it. There's no way I could live there as I was beyond pooped after being there only from about 6 on Friday night until 1 on Sunday after noon. But I would go back to visit again.