Postcard: New York

New York City

The 72 hours I spent in New York this 4th of July weekend were both literally and figuratively a blur. The time was made fuzzy around the edges by a seemingly endless parade of my favorite people who filed into the city for my friend Lesley's wedding, lunches that stretched from late morning through til the early evening washed down with a few too many glasses of sparkling wine, and evenings that ended in the wee hours of the morning to a randomly mixed soundtrack.

And though my main objective was to spend quality time with friends, my secret mission was to eat as many bagels and slices as possible without lapsing into a carb coma.


Mmmmm... Murray's Bagels. The personal favorite: Everything bagel with scallion cream cheese and a few slices of tomato. I had one every day I was in town. I meant to do at least one bacon-egg-and-cheese too but when you have a good thing going, sometimes it's wise to just stick with it. And so I did. I also ordered a dozen bagels - half of them Everything - and stuffed them into my carry on. The mixture of garlic, onion and sesame followed me through JFK and all the way to the back of the plane, much to the certain delight of the passengers packed into the surrounding seats - even though I wrapped them in no less than 8 plastic bags.


A few hours later we made an unscheduled stop at Magnolia Bakery for one of their famous cupcakes - white cake, chocolate frosting.


And finally, this cheese slice - followed by many more. The cheese slice is something I learned to appreciate while in graduate school. As a poor student, it was the best $1.75 I ever spent. When eaten at the end of a long night out and followed by a few aspirin, it was also a little preemptive self-defense against hangovers.

I realize that bagels and pizza are found everywhere from Hamburg to Kabul to Guadalajara and everywhere in between these days but I swear, they do not taste as good anywhere as they do in New York. Or perhaps its just the company...