Last Day in Town

Today is my last full day in New York until....I'm not sure when. Tomorrow I'll fly out on a one-way ticket.

The day started with breakfast at Barney Greengrass, fried eggs and a side of lox on a toasted pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, accompanied by wonderful companionship and conversation from a good friend and her husband. From there I went for one last visit to my storage space, then back to the apartment where I'm house-sitting to pick up some things which I'm giving to a friend this evening.

This afternoon I'll see the Sex and the City movie with one friend for a dose of absolute silliness, then go off for dinner at my favorite Indian restaurant with others. There are still a few more errands I need to run (i.e. I've only been able to fund one tube of Alba Terra Tints lip balm in 'Blaze' and that will not last me more than a couple of months so I'd like to buy another one, unfortunately almost every store in town seems to be out at the same time - I think I bought the last one in Manhattan.)

It's been a good trip back, though busy: a wedding, meetings, tea at the Waldorf Astoria, time with friends, restaurants (Ethiopian: Queen of Sheba; Indian: Madras Cafe and Curry in a Hurry; Mexican: a tiny place in Astoria whose name I forget even though they were good; Macrobiotic: Souen; New York bagels: 2nd Avenue Deli and Barney Greengrass; Vietnamese: Nha Trang; cheesecake: Junior's), a Broadway show (Nathan Lane is fantastic in David Mamet's new play November); shopping for clothes or other items that I can't easily find at a reasonable price in Beijing; and finding time on the subways and buses to read a copy of Katha Pollit's Virginity or Death that was waiting for me at the Tompkins Square branch of the New York Public Library when I arrived in town. There are people I didn't get to see, restaurants where I wasn't able to eat (how oh how did I not have dinner at Picholine while I was here?), and things I wasn't able to do but all in all it's been a good visit back.