Playing in the big city

Despite the very cold weather, Farmer Jeff and I have been having a really good time. We have ordered the food from the produce market at Chelsea Market/Manhattan fruit company and will pick it up tomorrow. Then we get to haul it back to the Beard house in taxis! Not what we picture when we go shopping back home!

Yesterday, once we got some business out of the way, we went to the Whitney Museum of American art. We are both such fans of Edward Hopper (and I love Calder!) so it was really a treat. For lunch we decided to go someplace traditional, so we went to Grand Central Oyster bar. I think it is resting on its laurels as the food was just okay.

We went wandering the streets of nyc looking for cast iron corn stick pans. I know where to find them at home...but where here??? We looked at Fishs Eddy...no luck, then we went to Whole Foods grocery store...no luck. We scored when we went to Dean and Deluca. We found mini cornstick pans. YEAH!!!

Dinner...ah...wonderful dinner. We went to A Voce, chef Andrew Carmelli. Amazing. We met up with a friend of mine from high school (yes, a very long time ago!) and ate our way through the menu. It is one of the most perfect meals I have ever had. If you have the chance to go...do!!!!

Farmer Jeff and I went over the last minute planning and details for the dinner on Saturday and then we got to go ...out to lunch! For those of you that know we have been on a diet for month, rest assured that we are going back on that diet the day we get home. Although we are eating fabulous food, it is shocking to the system to be eating any fat or pork or flour products after a diet of lots of veggies, tofu, chicken and very little fat. Oh well...all in good time!

Lunch today was at Balthazar, dinner was at Vong. Nice!!!

One of my high points of the trip so far was getting to go to Purl, a knitting shop in Soho. Not only did I find some really great and unusual yarn, they know my friend, Rosemary Hill, and her knit wire "Venezia" napkin rings featured on www.knitty.com
YEAH!!! Go Romi!!!

We also went to the American Folk Art Museum and saw an amazing exhibit of the work of Manuel Ramirez. Google it. The work is fascinating.

Tomorrow we go to work with ice chests full of food: sausages, goat cheese, ancho chile sauce, 9 dz. hard boiled eggs from our hens and lots of other stuff. It will be interesting to take taxis with all of this stuff.

I will give an update when I can. Wish us luck!