The Last Bite

A while ago, I decided to end this blog after a year, just because it seems like there are other things on which to focus. Not that I spent THAT much time on it, but it was a great way to procrastinate on life's more important things. Also I was running out of synonyms for "delicious."

But in any case, I actually gave birth a month early, on Feb. 17, and we did move to (ugh) Jersey City on Feb. 23, so great eating is going to be less a feature of my life for a while, anyway. Although I am compelled to point out that after a year of searching in vain for a decent Thai place that would deliver to us in the Financial District, we have already found such a winner in JC, called Sawadee! YAYYY!!!!

So this is farewell to the "Devour New York" audience, which consists, as far as I know, of two readers. Thank you, two readers!

Acapella, 1 Hudson St # A, Manhattan

Pat and I were treated to dinner at Acapella, in Tribeca, last night by his colleague Dan and Dan's daughter Devon. Dan had told us about Devon's interesting background with the Peace Corps and working for Ken Burns, and it was cool to meet her. It is perhaps only through meeting someone's daughter that you get to learn about some lesser-known aspects of their personal history, such as their altercation maybe fifteen years earlier with an angry man in a sandwich board, who traded punches with Dan while Devon hit him with her handbag. Somehow, that didn't come up the first time we had dinner with Dan.

My starter was agnolotti stuffed with lobster, in a creamy sauce with chunks of shrimp. It was fantastic. As I think about it, I should have tried to order that in a larger portion, as an entree. My entree was a steak that was only ordinary. We ordered sides of asparagus, spinach, and fried slices of potato, all of which were decent.

Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop, 174 5th Ave., Manhattan

I have once again taken up pre-natal yoga, this time at YogaWorks. They have three locations for pre-natal classes. I had been a few times to the UWS and SoHo locations, but my first attempt to make it to a class at Union Square ended fruitlessly, last week, when I went to 38 5th Ave. and there was no YogaWorks. There I was, pregnantly waddling up and down the block with my yoga mat as if it might suddenly appear, but it did not. I called Pat at work to see if he might look it up for me online, but he wasn't available, so I got back on the subway and went home. Where I learned that actually the studio is at 138 5th Ave.

The next day, I fell pregnantly down in the street for no apparent reason, twisting an ankle and bruising and skinning a knee (and most tragically, putting a hole in my favorite of my few pairs of maternity pants), so yoga was out for a few days, and then there were some scheduling challenges, mostly revolving around a man I was supposed to interview for my consulting gig who kept being only "available" during yoga class times and then failing to be available at those times anyway. Which begs a tangent: has it become professionally acceptable to schedule work calls with someone and then blow them off or be late? And if that's the new standard, how is it possible that someone as reliable and punctual as myself can't get hired? I mean, aside from the obvious fact that I will be giving birth in 5-6 weeks.

Which brings me back to my pre-natal yoga class - I was determined to get to the Union Square class on Tuesday, after several days of inactivity. But as it turns out, Tuesday was also the day of the parade to celebrate the New York Giants winning the Superbowl. The Giants' win was probably as important to Pat as it was unimportant to me. I think football is a brutish sport. However, I like parades, and this one went literally right past our apartment, and so we watched it. It was fun!

But then I underestimated the challenges the parade would present for getting to yoga class. I made it harder for myself by stopping along the way to pick up a free baby item from someone who was giving it away (this has become a hobby of mine), but then I had to head through the post-parade mayhem to get to the subway, again waddling pregnantly and now also lugging a nursing stool. And it turned out that my intended subway stop was closed until they finished the parade clean-up. So I had to schlep back to a different stop and finally got to 138 5th St. just in time for the class, which I didn't enjoy, because I couldn't put pressure on my knee. Then when I got back on the subway, it turns out they were running R trains express past where I wanted to get off, so I had to improvise and transfer and this made ME 4 minutes late for yet another phone interview with someone else! So I guess I shouldn't cast stones when it comes to the punctuality for the phone interviews, after all.

If you are even still reading this sob story, you are really just wishing I would get to my review of Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop, in the Flatiron district, where I stopped to pick up a sandwich before my second ill-fated subway trip of the day. I had pastrami on whole grain bread, with mustard. It was particularly greasy but delicious. The shop's motto is "raising New York's cholesterol since 1929." I enjoyed my artery-clogging sandwich immensely when I finally got to eat it at 4:00.

Ichiro, 165 Front St., Manhattan

Pat and I have only ourselves to blame for our appalling dinner from Ichiro, in the Financial District, tonight. We are always whining about how we can't find a good Thai place that delivers to us, and so we applied ourselves the internet for a new option, and Ichiro billed itself as an "Asian fusion" place. But it's not, is it? It is a Japanese place, and we were fools for ordering the Thai dishes. Fools!

Pat's pad thai did not taste like pad thai, and it had bell peppers in it, inexplicably. My red curry was simply not red curry! It actually wasn't bad, whatever it was - it was basically stir-fried vegetables. But I wanted red curry, and red curry I did not get.

The ordering itself was also an exercise in frustration. The online ordering function didn't work, so we called, and while she was very nice, the woman taking the order just was not up to the task of understanding English. (Side note: lest you should wonder whether this was why I didn't end up with red curry, that's not the explanation, as "red curry" was written on the order slip that came with my non-red-curry dish.) In particular, she was thrown for a loop when I told her the apartment number was 2J. I wondered if the Japanese language doesn't have a "j" sound, as German does not; I was referred to as "Chennie" for the nine months I spent in Austria.

Anyway, eating my non-red-curry in dismayed resignation, I looked on the web for Thai restaurants in Jersey City, and found a few highly-rated places within delivery or even walking distance, so hopefully we'll have better luck when we move across the river in a couple of weeks.

Burger Burger, 77 Pearl St., Manhattan

Pat picked up burgers for us yesterday from Burger Burger, in the Financial District. Mine was just a plain burger on brioche with a slice of tomato, to which I added my own avocado. It was fine. The fries, however, were excellent - crispy on the outside despite being quite long and fat.

David Burke Kitchen, 23 Grand St., Manhattan

It is always a delight to reunite with our friend Rob, visiting from Washington, with whom I suffered through a long study abroad year in Salzburg, Austria, viele Jahren vor. Rob is fun and hilarious, in multiple languages (though I only understand him in two or so....I cannot pretend to still remember more than a few words of Italian).

I believe that if you scroll down this blog far enough, you will come to the source of my choosing David Burke Kitchen, in lower SoHo, as our meeting place. I think that someone from Daily Candy recommended it, and the Yelp/Google reviews I looked up were uncharacteristically positive (it seems like people usually turn to Yelp when they want to unleash some hell).

We were very happy with the experience. The place did not fill up on this Saturday at lunch, so we were probably there about 2.5 hours, with no sense of being rushed. We were presented with popovers with marmalade, jam, and/or butter upon arrival, and then we ordered an appetizer of skewers with bacon and peanut butter and some sort of cherries or something? Whatever, it was quite tasty. I had stuffed french toast that was neither dry, nor what you might think of as gooey - it was somehow a perfectly moist yet light consistency. Pat had scrambled eggs with lobster that came in an impressive, eye-opening presentation, inside half an ostrich egg atop a bed of salt, with two lobster antennae sticking up. Rob, insisting all the while that he is not cheap, ordered a yogurt and granola mix with honeycomb on top.

It being Restaurant "Week," which seems to last for months nowadays, Pat added a dessert to his order that we all shared. We got carrot cake with coconut ice cream. The cake was crumbly and interesting, not overly sweet, with pistachios mixed in, and a decadent yet untraditional frosting. It paired beautifully with the ice cream.

Just to reiterate, Rob is *NOT* a cheapskate.

The artwork in the men's room was racy in a vegetal sort of way, prompting a stir among us. It was four close-up photos of a tomato with a protrusion appearing to be on the verge of penetrating another tomato. You don't really see tomatoes depicted pornographically very often. Or ever. It was salacious enough that I was secreted into the men's room to view it with my own eyes, which will be forever burned with the images.

Rob would like it to be known that he generously paid a third of the bill even though he ate practically the cheapest item on the menu.

Fino, 1 Wall Street Ct., Manhattan

Pat and I ordered from Fino a couple nights ago, armed with a 20% off Seamless coupon. It was a mixed bag. Both our entrees were big enough for two meals, which is a real plus, and they were good: Pat got veal and I got angel hair pasta with a tomato sauce and mixed seafood. The mixed seafood consists only of clams, mussels, and  squid, by the way. Surprising not to get any shrimp in there. But it was good.

The fried mozzarella appetizer turned out to be aged, not fresh, mozzarella, and it was not good. It was congealed and the breading was soggy.

Delivery time was as promised, around 40 minutes. I'm not sure we'd order from there again, given that it is a little pricey. Fino is in the Financial District.

Trinity Place, 115 Broadway, Manhattan

Trinity Place is just a couple blocks from us in the Financial District, and someone on the Herpes Mamas list recommended it. Pat and I went last night. The best thing about the place is that the bar through which you walk to get to the restaurant is an old bank vault, with ENORMOUS bank vault doors on either side. These are fantastic. The bar at 7:00 was raucous with libidinous Wall Streeters on the prowl for other libidinous Wall Streeters. We passed through the vault into the quiet restaurant.

Alas, the food was mediocre. We each had lobster bisque that was a little thin and lean on the lobster. My entree with duck confit and mushroom risotto was good, but nothing memorable, and a little too smoky for my taste in any case. Pat was similarly unremarkably placated by his gorgonzola ravioli.

We have decided to move, as outlined in my Jan. 9 post. We squirm when we think about trading in Manhattan for Jersey City, but I am going to have "4 minutes" tattooed onto my forehead, because that is only how far away Manhattan will be on the PATH train, which has a stop very close to our new apartment. 4 minutes is NOTHING! It will probably take me another 5 minutes just to wrap up this post! We have also pledged that we will take some of the vast amounts of money we'll be saving by making this move, and apply it to a regular (bi-weekly?) babysitter so that we will have nothing stopping us from making frequent 4-minute trips back in for a night on the town. We are not resigning ourselves to gaze longingly across the Hudson to our glittering former home (we are, however, looking forward to the OPPORTUNITY to gaze across the Hudson at the Manhattan skyline, a very nice feature of the new digs).

35 Thai, 35 Lispenard St., Manhattan

I had a hankering yesterday for pad thai, so Pat and I picked a place on Seamless that we had not yet tried, 35 Thai in Tribeca. The food came in around half an hour. Both my pad thai with chicken and the gang mussa-muhn (peanut curry) with chicken ordered by Pat were perfectly adequate but nothing remarkable. We wish we could find a truly great Thai restaurant within our delivery area! Thai restaurants may be one category where the Washington DC area actually has an advantage, although you can't get it to show up at your doorstep with dazzling speed the way you can here.

Light Horse Tavern, 199 Washington St., Jersey City

Pat and I have lived in our current apartment for almost a whole ten months, so clearly it is time to think about moving, right? SIGH. I never set out to be a drifter. Before Pat and I moved in together, I owned my house in the 'hood in DC for seven years. Then I moved four times in six months. Now we're considering moving again.

And we really like our current apartment. It is marvelous, with high ceilings and huge windows, in a building with character and nice staff, in a great location convenient to 4 subway lines, and it is plenty spacious for two people. But of course, in a couple months we'll be three people. And we could save a boatload of money by heading across the Hudson. And there are the darned boiler noises which wake me up usually several times a night, and the maintenance staff seems confounded by this.

We spent Saturday touring four apartment buildings in Jersey City, and particularly liked one called The Pier, which sits, go figure, on a pier. Being in the building was very much like being on a cruise boat. It is hard to weigh the trade-offs of moving there. Pluses include saving money, getting more space (and excellent views, by the way), and being more convenient to Pat's family. Minuses include negative reviews of the building online (it is hard to know how much weight to give those), moving at all, trading known problems (boiler) for unknown ones, and being in totally lame, boring Jersey City rather than Manhattan. We would still be just a four-minute PATH ride or eight-minute ferry ride from Manhattan, and we can't expect to take much advantage of being inside the city anyway once the baby arrives, but as Pat points out, it will be that much more of a challenge when we do want to take advantage, if we're across the river.

I don't know.

Anyway, in the course of our exploration, we had dinner at the Light Horse Tavern, and it was great. Pat had actually been to this place once before, for a work dinner. Our very friendly waiter told us that the new chef had been there just 2 days and was quite ambitious, including offering a special of lobster tempura atop duck l'orange atop a....heck, I can't even remember anymore -some sort of mushroomy pancake-type thing. I was willing to give it a whirl and was relieved that it was not as over-the-top as it sounded - just a great (basically non-orangey) leg of duck under a welcome chunk of battered lobster and atop a tasty carb base, also with some sautéed spinach. Yummmmmm. Pat was also pleased with his meatloaf and mashed potatoes. He also had a great parsnip soup that I ate a lot of, although the shrimps in his shrimp cocktail were fairly measly - the only negative worth noting.

I'm not ready to give Jersey City a rating yet but the Light Horse Tavern gets two thumbs up.

Kaffe 1668, 275 Greenwich St # 4, Manhattan

Kaffe 1668 in Tribeca was the site of my meeting with yet another of the Herpes Mamas, Sonja. She is new to the list and due in February, and lovely as all the rest. Joining this group was such a coup for me.

Unfortunately I wasn't impressed with the cafe. I got a hot chocolate and it was kind of on the small side, and barely chocolatey at all. Booooo. And Sonja had managed to snag us a table, but the place was overcrowded.

Walter Foods, 253 Grand St., Brooklyn

Pregnancy makes me cranky, so I regret that I was not in the best mood when Matt P. introduced Pat and me to Walter Foods, in Williamsburg. But it was nonetheless very likable.

There was a wait for a table, but the boys were pleased with their cocktails (and I with my ginger beer) at the bar. I got fried chicken as an entree, and it was great. It came with mashed potatoes and a spicy honey dip. I polished it off.

One downside to visiting this part of town in winter: the subway stop is outside! Elevated! In the cold wind! Brrrrrr.

The Bourgeois Pig, 111 E. 7th St., Manhattan

New Year's in NYC? Forget Times Square - our friends Marc, Yulia, Alex and James drove four hours up here to ring in 2012 at our apartment, while playing Rock Band. It was a great time!

The night prior, with no room at the inn at our intended East Village destination (Cienfuegos), we settled instead for the Bourgeois Pig, which as it turns out is a fondue spot. We got the rarebit fondue (excellent) and the mushroom fondue (good) and had a good night lounging on the couches, bathed in the red light of the place. It was a fine experience.

McNally Jackson Cafe, 52 Prince St., Manhattan

My latest career networking target suggested we meet in SoHo, at the cafe in the McNally Jackson bookstore. This bookstore is of the sort that makes you never want to enter a Barnes & Noble again. Yes, it loves itself, as independent bookstores often do, but you will love it too.

On this Thursday morning I was there for a couple hours and there was always at least one table available at the cafe. The hot chocolate was excellent (it was explained to me that they offer dark and milk, but my barista--Jerry--had blended them because the milk is too sweet and the dark is too bitter), although the raspberry scone was a little salty.

You have to insert a quarter to use the bathroom in the bookstore, and when you do, you are treated to a sign that says they're not engaged in a pathetic attempt to get another 25 cents out of you, but rather are trying to discourage use of the bathroom by intravenous drug users, whose needles apparently do horrible things to the plumbing. This is not, to be clear, a place I would picture drug users shooting up. It was amusing.

All this to say, if you need a book or a hot chocolate or a bathroom in SoHo, don't hesitate to visit McNally Jackson.

S'MAC (Sarita's Macaroni & Cheese), 345 E 12th St., Manhattan

Pat's sister Kathleen and her fiancé Paul came to New York on Sunday to partake of its Christmasy feel. We saw the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, the window displays at Macy's and Lord & Taylor, and the trimmings at the New York Public Library. But perhaps most importantly, we visited S'MAC, in the East Village, which serves only macaroni and cheese! God bless New York for nurturing this sort of culinary eccentricity.

All the offerings are served in cast-iron skillets straight from the oven. Pat and I shared a Parisienne, with brie, roasted figs and shiitake mushrooms, and rosemary. Delicious? Check. Delicious as leftovers the next day? Check. Artery-clogging? Check. I also sampled some of Kathleen and Paul's Cheeseburger skillet and Buffalo Chicken skillet; also both good. The latter was surprisingly spicy.

A couple of mild complaints: not enough tables to really meet demand, and no TP or paper towels in the restroom. Also the staff was a little on the surly side. But no complaints about the food. I have noted before that it is hard to go wrong with mac and cheese but I loved the devotion to the product demonstrated here.

Side note: I have heard there is a restaurant in New York entirely devoted to tiramisu. Please excuse me while I go conduct a Google search.

Midtown on a budget

Excerpted from The New York Times

December 13, 2011, 1:26 PM

Can It Be Done? Midtown on a Budget

By SETH KUGEL

...Food and Drinks

New Yorkers often fight the urge to physically block tourists’ entry to Times Square spots like the Hard Rock Cafe and Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, which are not cheap and about as New York as an Idaho potato. That’s obvious to many tourists. But even savvy ones can get confused by the generic delis that litter the neighborhood. And anyone can get so overwhelmed with choices that Subway and McDonald’s can seem like oases. But remember the Frugal strategy: if you’re not supposed to pay for anything you could do anywhere else in the world, you certainly can’t eat at a restaurant common at highway rest stops.

It’s so cheap, you say! But lunch for under $10 at an only-in-New York spot is within a few blocks of just about anywhere in Midtown. My go-to has long been Margon (136 West 46th Street), a cheap, plain Cuban spot just off Times Square. Just about everything — from the pressed-to-order Cuban sandwich (which comes with a renegade slice of salami) to a plate heaped with rice, beans and meat — is under $10.

Still too pricey? How about Ming Du (273 West 38th Street), a tiny Chinese place that could be more of a hole-in-the-wall only by being an actual hole in a wall. On offer: your choice of three steam-table dishes, served over rice, for $5. It may not be the prettiest spot, but a tray of roast duck, pork with pickled vegetables, and bok choy, served over rice, looks strikingly similar to what the owner’s family is eating at your neighborhood Chinese restaurant (always a good sign). Need to go cheaper still? Make a meal of fresh pork buns for 80 cents and fresh breads for 70 cents.

For something a tad more upscale try Bann Next Door (350 West 50th Street), the cheap lunch nook in Bann, a sleek Korean spot, for bulgogi tacos with five-grain rice and guacamole salsa for $9. Too L.A.? How about Vic’s Bagel Bar (544 Third Avenue, between 35th and 36th Streets) for the Tokyo Tel Aviv Express (cream cheese, wasabi, lox, scallions and edamame on a bagel; $7.50). If that’s too breakfasty for lunch, there’s the Peruvian chicken lunch special at Pio Pio for $9.50, which is right next to Talent Thai Kitchen’s $7.95 lunches (appetizer; entree, like delicious curried noodle soup with meat; and bottled water), both on 34th Street just east of Third Avenue.

Those are mostly lunchtime spots, but if you’re willing to (barely) break the $10 rule for dinner, try the tiny, cute pasta place Radicchio Pasta & Risotto Company (253 East 53rd Street), with several entrees for $11. I took cheapo hometown friends there for pre-marathon carbo-loading when more standard spots were booked, and we loved the homey service and freshly made pasta.

And if you need a drink after browsing for items you can’t afford at Bloomingdale’s or Williams-Sonoma, there’s the recently renovated Subway Inn bar (143 East 60th Street), where a bottle of beer will run you just $4.

Let’s even toss in a dining recommendation near the Javits Convention Center, so you can avoid the awful food inside: Bis.Co.Latte (667 10th Avenue), a cozy cafe with $8.75 risottos and $1.10 biscotti in flavors like triple ginger and coconut chocolate chip. It’s also within walking distance from the Hard Rock, so no excuses, O.K.?

Balthazar, 80 Spring St., Manhattan

On Thursday morning, I met another of the moms-to-be on the Herpes Mamas list (I know, I shouldn't call it that, but I'm gonna - see my earlier post). We had breakfast at Balthazar, in Soho. I had hazelnut waffles with fruit sauce and it was eminently satisfying. Pat has heard this restaurant is very good and I would like to try it again for lunch or dinner.

Mary Beth is really cool, just like the other pregnant chicks I met last weekend, and she too is due in March. I am ecstatic about meeting these fun women, and I really hope we will all get to know each other better not just in the next few months but after we have our kids, when I'm sure I'll crave their company all the more. The Herpes Mama list was a great find. I was initially a little put off that there is a $55 fee and they make you meet one of the organizers, to prove you're legitimately a downtown mom (or mom-to-be), before they'll add you to the list, but already this has been worth that and much more. I met a fourth cool woman named Jazz for coffee yesterday too, and will be meeting another named Lori (plus reuniting with Katherine from last weekend) on Sunday. I also got three free pairs of maternity pants from a mom on the list!

I went to Dumbo after breakfast to hunt down a particular Christmas gift and ended up getting there before the store opened, so I stopped for a bit for a hot chocolate at the bar at Al Mar, 111 Front St. My hot chocolate was good and frothy and the space was airy yet cozy, so I note it for further exploration.

Al Di La Trattoria, 248 5th Ave., Brooklyn

In the course of my endless, if somewhat hopeless, networking to look for work, I had lunch with a very pleasant and interesting independent consultant, Sarah, in Park Slope this week. We may have the chance to work on some projects together so it was both fruitful and enjoyable.

My food was terrific, and perfect for the day of heavy rain. I had a steaming bowl of cheesy polenta topped with mushrooms, braised greens, and a little broth. I loved it. Sarah had tagliatelle with ragu that also looked truly delicious. She told me that it is really hard to get into Al Di La for dinner but we got seats at lunch no problem and stayed for probably almost a couple hours.

Restaurant recommendations in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

These are from someone I don't even know on a listserv to which I subscribe!

Cafe Bakeri - Great coffee, pastries and baguettes
http://www.bakeribrooklyn.com/

Zenchiki - japanese super cool, hidden 
http://www.zenkichi.com/

Miss Favela (brazilian - super fun, same owers as Felix)
http://missfavela.com/bkny/

Dumont Burger
http://www.dumontburger.com/

La Superior (Authentic and cool Mexican)
http://www.lasuperiornyc.com/

Pies and Thighs (Cute, all american Southern food)
http://piesnthighs.tumblr.com/

Radegasthall and Beer Garden (escucha la musica, es genial)
http://www.radegasthall.com/index.php

Caracas Arepas Bar - cheap and tasty!
http://www.caracasarepabar.com/index_2.php

Fette Sau (BBQ)
http://www.fettesaubbq.com/

Marlowe and Sons (our favorite seasonal fare)
http://marlowandsons.com/

Rye
http://www.ryerestaurant.com/

Walter Foods
http://walterfoods.com/

Aurora - amazing italian, rustic setting
http://www.auroraristorante.com/

Fiore - yummy italian, afforadable, great brunch too!
http://www.fiorebk.com/

St Anselm
http://menupages.com/restaurants/st-anselm/

Cafe Colette
http://cafe-colette.com/

Cafe de la Esquina (same family as la Esquina in Manhattan)
http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/06/plans_revelaed_for_cafe_de_la.html

Cantina Royal
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/cantina-royal/

1 or 8 - Fancy Japanese, if you ever need to impress!
http://www.oneoreightbk.com/

Cadaques - Awesome Tapas
http://www.cadaquesny.com/cadaquesny.com/Welcome.html

Samurai Mama
http://www.samuraimama.com/

Meatball Shop
http://www.themeatballshop.com/#http://www.themeatballshop.com/index.php/specials/view

ISA
http://www.yelp.com/biz/isa-brooklyn-2

Dressler
http://www.dresslernyc.com/website/

Vanessa's Dumpling House
http://www.hereswilliamsburg.com/home/2011/12/1/open-for-business-vanessas-dumpling-house-310-bedford-avenue.html

DRINKS
Berry Park (amazing views of Manhattan)
http://www.berryparkbk.com/
Hotel Delmano
http://www.hoteldelmano.com/

Amish Market Tribeca, 53 Park Pl., Manhattan

We ordered last night from Seamless and went with Amish Market Tribeca. Pat got a massive, heavy wrap with good ingredients, although he found it a little too moist. I had a brick-oven sandwich with roast beef, onions, tomato and cheese that was great. The prices were very reasonable, and you could also get groceries delivered, which is good to know! The list of options was very long and we plan on ordering from them again.

François Payard Bakery, 210 Murray St., Manhattan

I don't have enough friends in New York, as regular readers of this blog (i.e. my husband) are aware. I pine for friends. And I realized a couple months ago that what I really need, going forward, is friends with kids, which is not a type of friend I have actively sought in the past. It's a whole new, friendless world. Or at least it was until today!

Our friend Anne (yes, we have SOME friends here) helpfully alerted me to a listserv for Upper West Side new parents, and I have learned a ton from their postings, but there aren't really any good opportunities to interact with any of them directly unless you already have kids, and even then, I don't live on the UWS! But someone posted about a downtown listserv, so I joined that too. It is the Hudson River Park Mamas, aka  HRP Mamas. If this makes you think "Herpes Mamas" every time you see the abbreviation, well, you are not alone.

Anyway the beauty of the Herpes Mamas is that they have subgroups of people with kids (and expecting kids!) by date - so I am in a subgroup of women due Jan-Mar 2012, which has 29 members so far! All living close to me!! I sent out an introductory message to say hello and several of them wrote back and offered to get together, so I met two of them today. And I loved them! They are Katherine and Lucy, both due in March like me. They were so nice and interesting and we were all so relieved to share things with people going through the exact same experience as us. I had the best time.

We met at Francois Payard Bakery, which is new (at least new at this location in Battery Park City). I had a tomato/pesto/mozzarella sandwich that was good, if pricey ($8), and the most luscious, huge cup of thick, dark hot chocolate ($5). But I just have to say how nice the staff was. When they noticed I was pregnant they pointed out that they have decaf coffee, and they made sure that my hot chocolate wasn't too strong, and they cleaned around our table for us, and were just generally very pleasant.

Doughnut Plant, 220 West 23rd St., Manhattan

We got together with a friend of Pat's from grad school, Katie, and her husband Anand last night. They proposed a Thai place close to their apartment in Chelsea and to our surprise it turned out to be another location of Room Service, a restaurant we hold in very high esteem in another location in Hell's Kitchen. This Chelsea location of Room Service is probably better because a) we had no wait at 7:30 on a Friday night - the other location seemed busier, and 2) the downside of the other location is that it's quite loud; this place wasn't exactly quiet, but quietER. Yes, I'm slightly deaf. I have auditory neuropathy (seriously). I like quiet places.

Anyway I strayed from the winning Spicy Basil Noodles of my last two Room Service visits, and got red curry with beef. It was plenty good, but I should have stuck with Spicy Basil Noodles.

Afterward we went to the Doughnut Plant. This is a very appealing space, with a doughnut motif everywhere. But three of us were disappointed by our doughnuts - the yeast dough was kind of dryish and uninspiring, even though the fillings were good. Anand was very pleased with the coffee, for what it's worth.

Crepes du Nord, 17 South William St., Manhattan

Aiming for something off the beaten path last night as we scanned Seamless, Pat and I went with crepes from Crepes du Nord. I got the eponymous Crepe du Nord (and let this mark the first time, I am certain, that I have ever actually used the word eponymous....how marvelous!). It had scrambled egg inside the buckwheat crepe, and smoked salmon draped on top (it also came with a little salad, which I of course ignored). It was really good, if not that hot by the time it got to me. Would try this place again, perhaps in person in the Financial District.

Stella, 213 Front St., Manhattan

It is always a danger to visit a place where you know a bunch of people and only tell some of them that you'll be there. This is what happened to our friend Marc, who made the mistake of posting on Facebook something about being in New York for a work trip, prompting others to be annoyed that he had not made an effort to see them.

But Pat and I are the golden friends whom Marc DID alert to his visit, so we got to have dinner with him at Stella, in the Financial District. I am feeling pretty superior about this favoritism.

I had fish and chips. It was fine, but maybe I should have chosen something less altogether fried. I don't know. The fried battered fish and the french fries really just left me with an impression of "fried." On the other hand, we ordered a mac and cheese side that was phenomenal. I know, I know, it is hard to go wrong with a mac and cheese side; one is rarely disappointed, but still this was really good even beyond the obviousness of it.

One note about the ambiance: it was late when we got there (close to 9:00), on a Tuesday, and there were not a lot patrons. It was nice because it was so quiet. But later a few people were kind of whooping it up at the bar and they turned the music up quite a bit and I was that stodgy annoyed person who must be like 75 years old.

Hundred Acres, 38 MacDougal St., Manhattan

Pat and I joined his coworker Caroline and her husband Kurt for dinner at Hundred Acres, in the West Village. We noticed there are actually several appealing-looking restaurants on that block.

I liked that when I ordered a Coke, it came in a big glass with lots of ice and was readily refilled. That is what I look for in a Coke, even though I am supposed to limit my pregnant self to no more than a 12-ounce caffeinated soda per day (I tried not to drink too much of the refill!). Coke is my substitute for alcohol, so it needs to be offered in an expansive way. There is nothing worse than getting it in a tiny bottle (fountain Coke is so superior) or small glass. And speaking of alcohol, despite being unable to enjoy it, I was nonetheless impressed that the one-sheet menu included not only one whole side devoted to wine, but two columns on the other side devoted to cocktails, beer, and whiskey.

And then what little (okay, I'm joking) space was left on the front had a very mouth-watering selection of food. I was trying to decide between the shrimp and grits, and the duck leg confit, and when Caroline ordered the former, I went for the latter, hoping for a bite of hers too, which she provided. It was fine, but to be frank, I made the right choice with the duck leg!

The duck leg was great. It came with two meaty-tasting sausages and pieces of acorn squash, which paired nicely with the meats. I was very, very pleased.

I polished it off and was stuffed, but could not be totally dissuaded from dessert. We collectively dove into a brioche bread pudding and a pear/raison cobbler. The cobbler was fine but not as exciting as it had sounded. The sweet potato ice cream on top was impressive, but I could have used more than just that little scoop of it. The bread pudding was really excellent - very butterscotchy.

Bobby Van's, 25 Broad St., Manhattan

Pat got a coupon for 20% off at Seamless on "cyber Monday," so we decided to splurge with Bobby Van's, in the Financial District.  I got lobster ravioli. They were okay, nothing remarkable. They came with a pile of spinach and a solitary rock shrimp, both of which were nice touches.

Pat got seared sesame tuna and said it was good. We also got a combo plate of deep-fried potato chips, zucchini sticks, and onion rings. The chips were the best.

Carnegie Deli, 854 7th Ave., Manhattan

At some point after college, Christmas ceased being fun and turned into a yearly stress. It is a bummer. Maybe having a kid will help bring back what I used to love about it when I was little. I still remember what that was - to sum it all up, it was listening rapturously to Christmas carols alone in our living room, which was lit only by the lights on the tree, eating gingerbread cookies and eyeballing all the sparkly wrapped presents underneath in giddy anticipation.

Guided by nostalgia, I guess, I still long to recapture some elements of that vision at Christmastime, which is why I pounced on a Groupon for the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. It is not a show, people: it is a Spectacular, with a capital S. It might be hopelessly cheesy, I was aware, but there was only one way to find out. And the movie "Annie" was a large force in my childhood, so I have always been predisposed to appreciate the Rockettes.

My friend Erin accepted an offer to go with me, and we went first to Carnegie Deli in Midtown, as if the Rockettes weren't enough touristy cliche for one evening (I had been to the Deli once before, in 2000 - as a tourist!). I had a pastrami sandwich and it was awesome. It was simply a gigantic pile o'pastrami with a sort of an afterthought of rye bread on either side, not enough to even come close to covering the meat. Mustard on the side was its only accoutrement, which is fine by this carnivore. I ate half of it, somehow (baby must have been pulling her weight), and got the other half to go. We were stuffed. And then we ordered a massive slab of cheesecake, incomprehensibly. And we made a good dent in that too. And then I got the rest of that slab boxed to go as well.

I should mention here that despite it being a tourist destination, the experience at Carnegie was very pleasant. We were seated immediately (at 6:30 or so), and our waiter was uncommonly nice. They put multiple parties together at the same table but we had no one next to us for most of our meal, and even after some tourists were seated there, it didn't feel intrusive.

Erin heroically hid my leftovers in her large bag when we went to the theater, for which I am even more grateful having just polished off said leftovers for lunch. To leave them behind would have been a tragedy.

The show was as anticipated: a mix of glitzy fun and schmaltzy boring. The numbers with the Rockettes were mostly great. I particularly enjoyed their "12 Days of Christmas" routine, and "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers," which is apparently a staple from the original 1933 show and features them wonderfully falling down like dominoes in slow motion. The 3D movie bits didn't add anything (and hello, isn't it already 3D when you see a show live?). A story about a mother looking for a gift for her daughter was at the same time deeply annoying, yawn-inducingly boring, and appallingly syrupy. Dancing Santas were fun; one Santa making transitions between songs was awkward. I liked the splendor of the nativity scene at the end, which also dates to 1933 as I understand it.

Bleecker Street Pizza, 69 7th Ave. S., Manhattan

Many moons ago, when Pat and I were zipping around Manhattan with a broker named Greg, looking for a place to live, we went past Bleecker Street Pizza, in the West Village, and Greg opined that it was the best slice in New York. I have always been meaning to check it out, but never did until this very day.

I had a piece with mushrooms and pepperoni. and was indeed mightily impressed by the very thin and crispy-delicious crust. The crust is really what it's all about with this pizza. They got it just right. The place is very small but with a few tables, and we got one. "We" was not just me and Pat, but also one of Pat's former colleagues from back in the day, Ben, visiting us from Chicago. Ben is very funny. We have been having a good time with him.

We wandered around the West Village and SoHo after lunch. We had dessert at Grandaisy Bakery (73 Sullivan St.): Ben had a tart/pie sort of thing; Pat had bread pudding in slice form, and I had a chocolate cookie sandwich with cream cheese filling. All were good old-fashioned bakery treats, meaning they were not showy nor overly rich but they were solidly yummy. After a bit of shopping we went for hot chocolate to Allessi (130 Greene St.), which is a store with its own Tarallucci Cafe. I had been here before, during a day of shopping with friends very early into my NYC experience, and it is very cool. The hot chocolate is thick and intense, and not too sweet. The place is very modern and artistically chic, sort of Euro-futuristic.

We have now reached a stage, 8 months in, where we don't check out new places as rabidly as we did when we first got here. We now have some tried-and-true favorites, both for delivery and eating out. Also it is getting colder, which I hate, and pregnancy doesn't really make a person want to get out and hit the town.

Also, I have more of a sense these days that I have things to get done. I have lined up some very short-term consulting while I continue to look, albeit more hopelessly with each day of ballooning bigger, for a job. I am participating in NaNoWriMo. Pat bugs me frequently about making a slipcover for our loveseat. I've been working from afar on finding a new home for my mom and figuring things out for her future. We are hosting Pat's family for Thanksgiving next week. Pat has been very busy with the end of the year approaching at work. And I like to keep the apartment in tip-top shape for our many visitors.

Some things aren't as fun as when we got here and everything was new, but other things are just as good or better. Our apartment is now just about perfectly how we wanted it. I think all the time about how happy and lucky I am to be with Pat.

Karahi, 118 Christopher St., Manhattan

Karahi was not actually the intended destination when Pat and I had dinner with friends Lindy and Jess. We'd headed to the West Village planning to eat elsewhere (I can't actually remember where) but that place was fully booked, so we went a few blocks away and found ourselves at tiny Karahi.

As appetizers, we had shrimp in a fried batter, which I thought were kind of bland but Pat liked, and samosas, which were very delicious. My entree was chicken tikka masala and I was very happy with it.

I appreciated that we were there for a long time (watching many others come and go!), sharing stories and laughs, and that didn't seem to bother the staff a bit. They were all-around very accommodating.

Del Posto, 85 10th Ave., Manhattan

Pat and I love high-end restaurants, but we don't splurge all that often. One of the things we love about New York is the endless low- to mid-priced restaurant options. Last weekend, however, some foodie friends visited and we were delighted to make our first visit to one of NYC's best restaurants, Del Posto, in the Meatpacking District. It was a hell of a great evening, lasting almost 4 hours! The menu has five- and seven-course price fixe options and we chose the former. Some of the courses you choose individually and some as a table. Literally all of it was marvelous.

I had a lobster and seaweed appetizer that featured a veritable mound of lobster meat chunks. Our collective first course of a pasta filled with oozing taleggio was perhaps a little one-note but at the same time so divine, I could have stopped there and been content. It was followed by more pasta and by the time I got to my main course, a seafood soup, I was dismayed to find I was already full! I couldn't finish it, and barely touched its interesting accompaniment, a toast with shrimp. Man, just the thought of seeing all those succulent shrimp come and go, uneaten, makes me grieve a little.

Our waiter was quite charming, an older gentleman whose ability to deliver exactly what we needed was gracefully natural. There were calls to take him home with us.

Obviously I was not drinking so I will have to blame the very late hour, and the fact that my stomach was no doubt diverting blood from my brain, for my inability to remember what exactly I ate for dessert. I do remember that I finished it and it was great. Also we were treated to a little cheese grater drawer filled with miniature sweets inside and on top, and I ate those too, goshdarnit. Make no mistake, Del Posto is expensive. But for a special occasion, it was worth it.

Asian Fusion on Stone St., 11 Stone St., Manhattan

You learned from my last post that Pat and I have been on a fruitless hunt for top-notch Thai within delivery distance. I was once again underwhelmed by our delivery from Asian Fusion, in the Financial District, but Pat thought it was pretty good, and suggested that perhaps my tastebuds remain warped by pregnancy. It is possible.

In any case, I was looking for more of a sweet/sour taste from the pad thai with shrimp, although in all other respects in was fine. As far as the Pad See Eue with chicken, this hit the spot because it was ridiculously greasy, and the flavor was good. I (or the fetus?) was in the mood for grease. It is not something I look for frequently. I'm not sure where that leaves us.

22 Thai Cuisine, 22 Maiden Lane, Manhattan

The Financial District's 22 Thai Cuisine slide a menu under our door one day and we fell for the ploy, ordering from them via Seamless. We're always in search of that elusive, superior Thai restaurant. 22 Thai Cuisine is not it.

The Pad See Ew had an overpowering sauce flavored like soy sauce. The panang curry with chicken was blah.

I despair of ever finding that perfect Thai restaurant within delivery distance.

Supper, 156 East 2nd St., Manhattan

When I left PSI, my lovely colleagues got me a great going-away present: a gift certificate to Supper, in the East Village. It was a generous amount so we had waited to herd some friends along before we redeemed it.

Brian and Becca were those lucky friends. Pat and I had an appetizer and drinks (me Coke, him wine) at the bar while we waited for them to arrive. The veal meatballs were great, and there was plenty for two. Pat was tickled by their entry on the menu: "baby veal meatballs." It meant, of course, that they were small, but he liked to picture the meatballs coming from "baby veals," which put us in mind of particularly youthful calves.

Supper has an interesting and marvelous policy with wine: you can order as little of a half-glass of any of the (mostly very expensive) wines on their menu, and they're happy to open a bottle, and when you leave they will charge you for just whatever portion of the bottle you drank. But Pat and Brian managed to just about polish off a whole bottle!

My entree was pappardelle with mushrooms (very good - I just finished the leftovers!) and I had tiramisu for dessert, which I'd call excellent. The entrees were very reasonably priced - really good value. I have to say I was not delighted with the physical space. I was on a bench that didn't offer much of a cushion (covered in plastic, no less!) on the seat, and no cushion at all on the back - by the end of the night I was squirming in discomfort. And it was quite loud, which probably wouldn't have bothered me before I became so darned old and crotchety.

The bar is actually 2 doors down from the restaurant, and I liked it better in there, really. You can order from the full menu there, too.

The Bagel Basket, 618 Amsterdam Ave., Manhattan

I was on the Upper West Side yesterday for a haircut, for which I had a Groupon. It was at a salon called Bodre. Don't go there. Enough said. Happily, a haircut is not forever.

The Bagel Basket was not my intended bagel destination after that; I had been heading for Barney Greengrass, recommended by NFT. Alas, Barney Greengrass was closed. So I found myself at the Bagel Basket, a couple blocks north. It was not so great. The bagel was ordinary, and the salmon & scallion cream cheese had too-big chunks of salmon and scallions. I will say that the woman who served me was very nice, and you don't see that very often, so bonus points are due.

Yorganic, 275 Greenwich St., Manhattan

It was actually a couple of weeks ago that I ordered from Yorganic, in Tribeca, via the Seamless website. I felt kind of sick (pregnancy....ugh) and only a smoothie sounded palatable for dinner. I chose the Tropical Bliss Smoothie and a juice that I threw in just to meet the dollar minimum for delivery. The smoothie was good, although nothing special, but the real story here is that it arrived just 18 minutes after I placed the order! Honestly, you cannot do better than wanting something and having it show up at your door 18 minutes later. Instant gratification.

Kitchenette, 1272 Amsterdam Ave., Manhattan

I am looking for a job, and I've been doing a lot of networking. I was in Morningside Heights one afternoon last week talking to the head of AVAC, an HIV prevention advocacy organization, and turned to my trusty NFT afterward for a recommendation for an early dinner. Kitchenette was just a couple blocks away.

When I walked in, my eyes seized upon three cakes in domes on the counter. They looked moist and naughty and I hungered for them. But I'm eating for two and it would be wrong to forsake some genuine nutrients for a piece of cake, so I did the sensible thing and ordered real food: a biscuit with eggs and cheese. I'm not saying it was healthy or anything like that. But at least I got, you know, protein and calcium and whatnot. Also, it was unholy delicious. That biscuit was decadent, and a perfect complement to the copious scrambled eggs with cheddar melted in.

And then, having checked the "real meal" box and feeling pretty full, I nonetheless ordered a piece of cake, naturally. It was the right move. I chose the lemon cake. The crumb was spectacular, the taste angelic, the frosting tart and somewhat jelly-like. Baby would not have wanted me to miss it, I'm sure.

Ellen's Stardust Diner, 1650 Broadway, Manhattan

Last weekend Pat's college friend J.D., his wife Michelle, and their 8-year-old son Trey came to stay with us from Baltimore. This was Trey's big New York debut.

We took an amusing trip to the Central Park Zoo, a place Trey has long wanted to visit because of the movie "Madagascar" (Trey also wants to visit Rio de Janiero, because he has seen the movie "Rio," obviously). I was impressed by the tropics building, and, despite its atrocious smell, the penguin building.

We went to FAO Schwartz after that; it was my first visit. That place rocks. You could literally get lost in it. A parent would have to be pretty brave to take their kid there and not expect to drop some serious cash on all the fun stuff.

Soon it was dinnertime, but lunchtime had taught us that one must choose wisely for Trey, who had rejected two brunch menus earlier that day, innocently exclaiming, "isn't there ANYWHERE to get lunch in New York?" To find a dinner winner, J.D. googled "fun restaurants" on his iPhone and thus it was that we found ourselves at Ellen's Stardust Diner, in Midtown, a place where I might not otherwise have been caught dead. Ellen's, it turns out, is where aspiring actors wait tables and serenade dining tourists while hoping for their big break on Broadway. Some of them were quite talented, actually. Our favorite was a waiter who hammed up a cheesy Brian Adams song. You could picture some of these folks on the Great White Way (others, not so much).

However spirited the atmosphere, the food was dismal, and absurdly overpriced even had it not been dismal (which, to reemphasize, it WAS). I had a milkshake that passable at best, and a hamburger that was like a sawdust patty. But we were not there for me! I believe Trey enjoyed himself very much, and even liked whatever it was he ate. Mission accomplished.

South Brooklyn Pizza, 122 1st Ave., Manhattan

Pat and I stumbled on South Brooklyn Pizza (no name on the outside! a delicious secret!) in the East Village many moons ago, when we were already stuffed with Luke's Lobster, and he gazed dreamily into the window and told himself he'd be back. Today was the day.

We were in the East Village because we went to see hordes of dogs dressed up for Halloween in a nearby park. I like dogs. I don't necessarily like them better when they are wearing lobster or cowboy or Dorothy costumes, but it doesn't hurt. We found ourselves a railing to lean against right where the dogs were coming and going from the costume contest, so it was prime viewing territory. It was fun.

Afterward, we partook of margarita slices at South Brooklyn Pizza, nearby. I felt that the crust was incredible. It was crispy and flavorful. The single vacant-looking employee overdid it a bit with the olive oil on top, but that crust! Pat, who is a frequent consumer of slices, was surprised at the high $4 pricetag on these babies. But have I mentioned their delicious crust?

Unrelatedly, here is a picture of me with minus-five-months-old Baby Girl Aylward. She likes pizza too.

SouthWest NY, 2 World Financial Center, Manhattan

Pat and I still haven't exhausted our supply of Foodie Registry gift certificates that we reaped when we got hitched, and now's the time to use them, before an infant makes dining out more of a circus (or, indeed, altogether inadvisable or impractical. Not really sure what to expect.). So a couple weeks ago I phoned Pat at work at the end of the day and informed him that not only had I changed out of my pajamas into real clothes (hey, I'm unemployed, remember? You secretly wish you could spend all day in your PJs if you want!), but I also did not feel like puking, so we should sieze the day and go out for dinner.

We went to SouthWest NY, in Battery Park City. This certificate was courtesy of my college roommate Sarah and her husband Chuck. It is right by Pat's office, and we sat outside next to the harbor on the Hudson and had a very pleasant time. My SWNY sliders were surprisingly good - basically one big ol' patty in a perfect soft bun, cut into four pieces, a little spicy, with some crispy onion thingies. Delicious.

Amelia's Bistro, 187 Warren St., Jersey City

I still have alarmingly few friends in New York, so it is with sadness that Pat and I had a sort of a goodbye dinner for his fun coworkers Jen and Brian last night. They are moving to London. Which means there will still be opportunities for us to see them, but they will not be part of our small crowd of New York friends any longer. I sigh wistfully, but obviously we wish them the best, and they deserve it.

For this dinner I made my first ferry crossing of the Hudson River, to Jersey City. It was cool. Much cooler than a subway ride. The ferry ride back, after dark, was particularly cool because we got to admire the lit-up New York skyline for 8 whole minutes. Quite romantic for Pat and I and the ferry's one other passenger at 9:40ish PM.

Amelia's Bistro is a neighborhood favorite of Jen and Brian. It was Monday Lobster Fest, which meant a $20 whole lobster for Pat (normally $25). I wanted lobster but also wanted pasta (still feeling nauseous at 16 weeks of pregnancy, which is not the way it's supposed to work....grrrrr), so I got the lobster fettucine. It was satisfying, although I wish the sauce had had more flavor. Brian and Jen both had the fried chicken, a previous winner for them, and we all enjoyed an appetizer of funky mozzarella sticks with some sort of meat wrapped in a kind of an eggroll wrapper, sort of.

The Capital Grille, 120 Broadway, Manhattan

Armed with a gift certificate, Pat and I roused ourselves from the couch on one of our laziest Saturdays ever, last weekend, and travelled the couple blocks east to the Capital Grille, in the Financial District. This is an outpost of a Washington restaurant so it had the ring of the familiar to us.

I was delighted with my lobster- and crab-stuffed shrimp. The leftovers were equally satisfying the next day. Pat was not thrilled that his steak and lobster had a creamy sauce on it, but he did finish the whole plate, so evidently it didn't slow him down. We had a side of creamed spinach that was plenty creamy (and also functioned as a nice next-day leftover).

It has gotten a little more difficult to maneuver around the FiDi since the protesters took up residence, a few weeks ago already.  I have spent weeks being unclear on their message, and then someone pointed me to their laughable list of "demands." I am predisposed to loathe any and all protesters, because I feel like my own sanity and schedule are always collateral damage when they get a bee in their bonnet that has nothing to do with me. Years spent in Washington meant years being annoyed by protesters. So maybe it's not saying much that I find these particular protesters to be clueless, but I wanted to put it out there anyway.

Rice Thai, 311 7th Ave, Brooklyn

Some time ago I joined the Prospect Park Track Club. I ran a few of their races and the people are always so friendly, and I like them. They have regular (monthly?) meetings that I haven't attended before, but since I have stopped running for the winter, I decided to go to last night's meeting just to stay current and maybe get some human interaction. Such is the life of a new, unemployed New Yorker: I will go all the way to Brooklyn, in the rain, for human interaction.

The meeting was quite short and I didn't see anyone I knew there, so I didn't have a conversation with anyone, but that's okay. On the way home I stopped randomly for dinner at Park Slope's Rice Thai. I had a Thai iced tea and red curry with tofu. I have decided it's time to start trying to observe Meatless Mondays again, in the interests of saving the planet. Back when I did this "regularly" I was never very good at remembering it was Meatless Monday before getting halfway through, say, a roast beef sandwich, but at least I was trying, and I intend to start trying again.

The curry was good, but nothing special. Rice was a dollar extra, which I always find kind of annoying. The steamed tofu in the curry was perfectly fine, and it had the requisite bamboo shoots and basil (although why were eggplants added?). I wish the green bell peppers had been red instead.

Community Food and Juice, 2893 Broadway, Manhattan

It has been a while since we saw our friends Anne and Eric and their son Julian, but Pat and I joined them for an enjoyable brunch in Morningside, at Community Food and Juice, whose sister restaurant (in the East Village?) apparently always has lines out the door. We were seated right away at CFJ, and Pat and I both enjoyed pancakes (banana walnut and blueberry, respectively) with the most divine maple butter syrup. It was like peace and love in syrup form (or is all my recent yoga having an effect on me?).

Eric and Anne had told us at our last get-together that they knew of a bakery with cookies that would change our lives, and I insisted I was not leaving the Upper West Side without one today. And thus it was that we found ourselves at Levain Bakery, 167 W. 74th St. Pat and I got three of the hulking, $4 cookies and shared them at home. They are browned and slightly crispy on the outside, and the mounded innards are barely cooked and gooey. My life has been changed; what can I say?

2 West Restaurant, 2 West St., Manhattan

Pat has dinner occasionally with a consultant with whom he works, Dan, and Dan was kind enough to invite me to join them this week. 2 West is in the Ritz-Carlton where Dan stays in Battery Park City. I have run and walked past this Ritz-Carlton a million times, and never realized it was a hotel. This struck me as interesting at the time, although as I think about it now, it seems sort of irrelevant, since who do I know who can afford to stay in the Ritz, even when they're traveling on their company's dime? Maybe someday I'll run in those circles!

I had a good lobster bisque, but was less pleased by my entree, which was salmon with caramelized red onions and roasted fingerling potatoes. The salmon needed something to cut its richness, but the onions and potatoes weren't really appealing. I put the leftover salmon and onions in wrap the next day with spinach and cream cheese, however, and it was nice.

Cookshop, 156 10th Ave., Manhattan

I think this blog has exactly one reader, my husband Pat (thanks for your loyal following, sweetie!). So I'm not really worried that anyone who should hear this sort of thing from me in person will find out from the blog that I am 14 weeks pregnant.

It really needed to be said on the blog, because it is a big reason that the writer of a blog that is primarily about restaurants has visited so few restaurants lately. Food and I have developed a new, frequently contentious relationship since early August. I have to think about food all day long, because an empty stomach is a trigger to throw up. Planning and eating food all day is very tiresome. And while it's starting to get better with the end of the first trimester, a lot of foods are/were no longer appealing. For a while I was subsisting on starches, desserts, and some seafood, and hoping my embryo/fetus was getting by on the vitamins I've been taking to compensate.

All this to say, eating became a chore, and hence the lack of posts in the last couple months (additionally, I have traveled a lot, which I also don't recommend doing while under the influence of a fetus).

Anyway, I still manage to throw on the one pair of jeans that still zips up and get out every now and then, and so Pat and I went to Cookshop in Chelsea with our friends Stephanie and Graham one night a week or so ago. We had a mushroom pizza appetizer that was remarkably good, and I had a steak (flank? I can't remember) that was not so good - too many unchewable strings that are awkward to deal with in public (I enjoyed the leftovers better the next day, when no one was around to watch me wrestling with them).

Num Pang Sandwich Shop, 140 East 41st St., Manhattan

I have started taking yoga classes for the first time ever. I got a Groupon for $39 for unlimited classes 7 days a week, and for an unemployed person, this is a hell of a bargain. In the first five days I have been to four classes! I like it. I have always liked stretching and it is very stretching-focused. Probably if I was doing it right, it would be more strength-focused, too. And it is more spiritual than anything I have attempted since religion. There are several minutes at the end of every class where you're just supposed to lie there in the dark (they dim the lights) and think about your connectedness to the earth and the energy in your body and whatnot. Even better, the instructor goes around with lavender-scented oil on her hands and gives your temples and forehead a micro-massage during this quiet time...that is ecstasy. Anyway I am sure the rest of the 60 minutes I look like an idiot because I am swiveling my head around to see how everyone else does the poses, and then I am probably doing the poses wrong. But who cares?

The yoga studio is in east midtown, close to the East River. I get off the subway at Grand Central and between there and the studio I spotted Num Pang Sandwich Shop, with a promising line of customers. It is a to-go place. I went after class last night, and ordered the coconut shrimp sandwich. It was wonderful! It was similar to what I got from Bao Noodles a while back, albeit more expensive ($7.75). I think this is Vietnamese food, yes? I want more of these sandwiches.

Four Seasons Thai Restaurant, 612 Amsterdam Ave., Manhattan

I spent so much time away from New York in the latter half of the summer that it seems like a million years between popping into Four Seasons, on the Upper West Side, and whatever my last new restaurant experience was (I don't even remember, although of course you can just scroll down!). It is nice to be back. Pat's and my honeymoon in California and Hawaii was wonderful, and I loved seeing all my old friends in Washington, but my day-to-day life since coming to New York is like most people's idea of a vacation, so no regrets about returning to "ordinary."

I was in the UWS for a doctor's appointment and was super-hungry, and Four Seasons was right there, and next thing you know I was ordering the lunch special (soup, salad, and an entree) for $6.95, and next thing you know after THAT, I was deliriously shoveling forkful after forkful of red curry into my mouth. It didn't even look good, when it arrived on my table. But it WAS good, really really good, and a big portion to boot. For $7! That is what I'm talkin' about, yaknowwhatumsane?

Haru Sushi, 1 Wall Street Ct., Manhattan

Pat and I were on our way to Suteishi last night when we passed Haru Sushi, in the Financial District, and were drawn in out of curiosity and laziness (why walk the extra blocks to Suteishi?).

My tuna/avocado roll and Philadelphia roll were as hoped for, and rich enough that I couldn't even finish the last two pieces of the latter. Pat has been reading a book by Anthony Bourdain that inspired him to order a piece of toro sushi, but he wasn't impressed by it, and was unsure whether it was a bad example of toro sushi or toro sushi is just not what Anthony intimated it would be. However, his hatsu yume roll was delicious.

Side note: we have a question about chopsticks. We are adequately dexterous at getting bite-sized pieces of food into our mouths with them, but what happens when the pieces are too big to eat in one bite? Seems like they fall apart between your sticks if you just take a bite out of those pieces. Then we're lost, and ashamed, and unfulfilled. Probably there is a YouTube instructional video on this somewhere, for which I have no intention of searching.

Back to the matter at hand, the waiter was nice but the service was slow.

We still prefer Suteishi but I wouldn't mind going back to Haru.