New York: I kind of miss my Grape-Nuts

Josh and I love to eat and NYC is home to much of the best food in the country, so the last few days have been organized around restaurants, cafes, coffee shops and ice cream parlors. Everything has been delicious, but I'm not exactly enjoying the balanced diet I've grown accustomed to and my body is starting to beg for a bowl of Grape-Nuts with berries and a nice glass of OJ.

Instead of lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grain cereal, I'm eating lots of sushi, pizza and pastries. Yesterday we spent the day with old friends from college and their better halves, including the entire original line-up of Josh's band Dingle (eventually renamed Aden). We breakfasted at Le Pain Quotidien before heading to Brooklyn, where we visited the New York Transit Museum, which is underground in a now-closed subway station. The museum was followed by Vietnamese sandwiches, local, organic, cruelty-free but definitely not fat-free ice cream and stops at friends' apartments. We concluded the evening with very good sushi, including a "Brooklyn roll."

Today's entertainment consisted of a shopping spree for me at the Japanese retailer Uniqlo (kind of a cross between Old Navy and H&M, but with more of an emphasis on basics and high technology) and a visit to the Jewish Museum. We got our food fixes at Lombardi's pizza, one of the last of the coal-fired pizzerias, Two Little Red Hens bakery (cupcakes) and Matsugen, where we enjoyed a fabulous 6 course prix fixe Japanese dinner for $35 each.



We head home to Chicago tomorrow afternoon. I'm looking forward to seeing my girls (and rescuing my in-laws from 5 days on non-stop babysitting).