god mat och total dekadens (Good Food and Total Decadence)

PP and I spent last Friday in New York, to walk around in the old neighborhoods where he spent a lot of time in the last 35 years. Mainly we were in the Flatiron District, the Village, and in Soho, all on the southern part of Manhattan. I got to hear lots of stories about how it used to be in the past, such as trucks falling through the sidewalk into basements, toy cars with rockets landing on neighbor's roofs. Many of the old neighborhood joints are gone, replaced with expensive fancy stores for rich people, but some gems are still left. It was a great day, and total decadence - fantastic lunch at Mesa Grill with cactus pear margarita, amazing cappuccino and espresso at Caffe Dante, great smoked mozzarella at Joe's Dairy, an old-fashioned Italian cheese shop that is still around (thanks!), and an Italian neighborhood food store with pasta in wooden drawers. We went to several old historical bars to take in the ambiance and just talk (I told you, decadence), and then to Balthazar, an amazing French restaurant. But we didn't eat dinner there (= more decadence) just had a drink. Dinner was at the Oyster Bar at Grand Central to celebrate EW's 50th birthday. A fantastic day and lots of new memories. I have uploaded photos on Flickr and if you click on the photos here it will take you to the big photo with more explanations. All you Swedes, next time you come here, we will take you to some of these places. Enjoy!