Goodbye, NYC

I spent yesterday saying goodbye to my friends in NYC.

We ate a lot of food, drank a lot of drinks, and laughed a lot more. I also purchased a couple of hard-to-find food items, saw an Olafur Eliasson exhibit, and frittered away part of the afternoon at Pastis, drinking wine and eating pate (and reading a book). There wasn't any haute cuisine, but that wasn't the point of the visit.

Food finds: whole vanilla beans, 3 for $5, purchased at a Middle Eastern bulk grocery on Atlantic Avenue. Pimente d'Esplette, a kind of intensely flavored AOC-designated French pepper, a cornerstone of Basque cuisine. A bottle of tiki bitters.

I still love the bustle of NYC, even though I haven't lived there in over three years. But I'm sure exploring Seattle will be equally exciting.