I’m Back, And Very, Very Full

June 23, 2008

I’ve just spent the past week chatting, shopping, laughing, reminiscing, navigating, walking, and, through all of it, eating with my good friend Jodi during her visit from Canada. It was an awesome vacation in my own backyard, since we stayed pretty local for most of her trip and then spent a couple of days in Manhattan as well. There was a lot of eating close to home: Cheesecake Factory, Nathan’s, Carvel, and a diner — all places she’d never been before.

In the city, we hit a lot of mass market, pop culture favorites like Pinkberry (my first time!), Ruby Foo’s, Dos Caminos (too many margaritas to remember much more than that we had a great time), Whole Foods at the Columbus Circle mall (including a huge, fancy cupcake that looked a lot better than it tasted), and breakfast at Pershing Square. We had to pass by some probable gems like Magnolia, Levain Bakery, Ess-a-Bagel and more because we were just too full. We walked a tremendous amount, too, thankfully.

Jodi also brought suitcases full of Canadian treats. This is just a small sample of the food-related loot: Kicking Horse Coffee (and several different Tim Hortons mugs), Spitz sunflower seeds (candy-coated, and even a dill pickle flavor!), Old Dutch ketchup-flavored chips, Kickbutt Amped Energy Ballz (no, really), Saskatoon berry products (jam, syrup, etc.), Kinder Surprise eggs, Nativa Organics cookie buttons and animal crackers, more varieties of chocolate bars than I’ve ever seen, plus much much more. I will not need to shop for snack food for at least a year, I’m sure.

Now I’m off to catch up on e-mail, and figure out what to do with all the farm share produce that has been untouched in my fridge this week — only two days until my next pick-up, which I will not be able to fit in my fridge without a major plan. I will be back with a meal plan for the rest of the week tomorrow — please hold me to it.