Lunch in Chinatown

You can say what you want, but stuff are cheap in Chinatown. The bag store next to work sells luggage bags for $250. The stores in Chinatown take $35. If you pay with cash they will not charge you for the tax either, which they so conveniently pointed out. Then right around the corner was some fabulous stores selling fresh fish for basically no money!

Not to mention fast food in Chinatown. You get to pick from a buffet of over 60-70 different kind of dishes. Five dishes on a plate for less than five bucks. That is a steal, and good food too. Beats McDonald’s prices anyday.

All over the city

Woke up fairly late, and went for breakfast on Hudson at Le Pain Quoditien. Their idea of a long breakfast table that will seat about 30 people is really nice. Fresh Fruit Salad, a can of (not so terrible, but Peruan) coffee and two soft boiled eggs was a perfect start of the day. On the subway, we ended up talking to this guy from NY, Michael, who just was interested in a random and friendly conversation. That really is a difference with this country compared to home, people find pleasure in talking to strangers more than two words. Back home, talking to someone unknown to you, you just don’t do. I find that sad really.

Anyway, we were going to 56th & Madison Ave to the Sony Experience Center, but ended up on Central Park West on 72nd, since we took an express train that didn’t make the stop we had expected on 59th. Wasn’t half bad really, we crossed Central Park, went down 59th and Madison and stumbled onto the market that apparently is along a number of blocks on Madison. Bought a new and lovely bag which quickly became my favorite. We also had a Shish-Ke-Bob (yes, not Kebab but Ke-Bob!!) which was grilled chicken on stick…. aaah… wonderful. As well as a smoothie-do-die-for made of Mango and Papaya.

The Sony Tour wasn’t all that, except for the giant Spiderman that covered the entire inside of the buidling, so we took a detour to FIKA for some Swedish coffee (and some Swedish conversation as well). Met little Emma, 6 months old, who was a real cutie. Then a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond on 19th & 6th Ave, since I had to get a wall mirror and a warmer blanket. Did you know there are some semi-electrical toothbrushes now? Cost about $7, and seem to work really well. Of course I had to buy one.

Milos Estiatorio

We went to a great greek restaurant yesterday evening on 55th St (between 6th & 7th Ave). Awesome place, fantastic food, lovely interior, great company. Couldn’t ask for more.

And the food… (and wine…ooh, really great).

Started out with a mojito from the bar. Then we continued with our appetizers which consisted of a mixture of Tzatziki (yogurt, cucumber, garlic, olive oil), Tarama (fish roe, olive oil, lemon), Scordalia (almonds, garlic), and Ktipiti (Holland peppers, feta cheese, olive oil) that we dipped bread in. We also ordered in some grilled calamari stuffed with Cretan Anthotiro cheese, feta, spinach, and fresh mint, with saffron and truffle caviar. To this we added a nice tomato salad and grilled zucchini, eggplant, asparagus, peppers, Haloumi, and yogurt with dill. Then for the main course we shared some awesome fresh fish and as a dessert (with a great macchiatto) some baklava, karidopita (Walnut-based cake served with ice cream) and greek yoghurt with honey. And to all of this a really great Cabernet Sauvignon, don’t remember the producer though.

The bill? Don’t even want to know.

Want to know more? Check out their home page.

Arrival in New York

Arrived in New York yesterday, two hours delayed from Stockholm. The trip over was pretty uneventful, got to talk to the pilot for about 15 minutes when he was standing at the back of the plane, he was a very friendly guy who explained why the plane had been delayed (problems with one of the landing gears). Arrived at the hotel around 5pm. Then I made the first mistake… took a warm bath and fell asleep at 6pm, and totally overslept the dinner plans I had with Stefan and his friends. One advantage though was that I woke up at 3am and could go to the gym at 5am.

Staying at a pretty good place on 45th and Madison btw. The Roosevelt Hotel. Not half bad.