ny food warmed my soul

we traveled back to new york this past weekend since president’s day gave us an extra day of leisure. food in new orleans has been great, but we missed our favorite spots in new york.

our first stop was awash, an ethiopian restaurant, on 6th street between 1st and 2nd avenue. we haven’t searched for ethiopian food in new orleans, but we’re pretty sure even if it exists, it’s extremely rare. and who know if it would be reliably delicious like awash? we were reminded how ass-kicking great berbere sauce tastes, which reminds me that i need to search for a recipe for it.

that evening, we had ramen at ramen setagaya. what joy to sit down to a steaming bowl of supreme ingredients, especially having been re-exposed all day to the new york winter. it was the perfect way to end the day.

we met my family for dimsum the next morning and were in for a treat. the celebration for chinese new year was still in order. lion dancers paraded into the restaurant while drummers added to the festive atmosphere. it was r’s introduction to dimsum, something i grew up with. i was relieved he loved it because i plan on having dimsum again.

after we saw persepolis, which is an amazing movie with incredible animation and a heartfelt storyline, we succumbed to indian food at brick lane, back on the same block as awash. ironically, it was our first time dining in the restaurant. we had had numerous take-out meals when r used to live on that block and voted it as the best indian restaurant on the block of about 20 other indian food establishments.

on our last day in the city, we had brunch at a new place, patisse. it was actually a little overpriced for breakfast for food that wasn’t particularly special. it wasn’t bad, just not worth what they charged.

we spent so much of the weekend just walking, sometimes we both miss dearly, for the intimacy with a city and the exercise. so it was a total bummer that we were stuck at jfk for over 3 hours because our flight was delayed, 3 more hours we could’ve spent IN the city. and 3 more hours we could’ve spent with my sister, whom i’m finding that i miss a lot. it gave us time, however, to enjoy a meal at deep blue sushi. finally, we boarded our flight and made it back to new orleans, another city of great food.

more will come about nola food.

mind in overdrive

work has finally caught up, and for the past couple of weeks, i've been swamped. we survived mardi gras. the shaybridge fotel finally let us move to another room where we don't have to open the curtains only to look out at the air conditioning unit for the entire building. for this coming president's day weekend, we're heading back to nyc. it'll be nice to be back "home" but the cold, the cold! it's so much warmer here.

have to get back to work, but a quick note on breakfast/brunch places - surrey's juice bar and bluebird cafe are the best. clean, healthy, nurturing food and atmosphere. slim goodies was okay. it gave me the impression of being a little dirty, and the food was not as good. more soon...