Five things I’ll miss about New York City

I’m finally back in Mexico City! We got in from New York late Sunday.

I meant to post some of these photos during my trip, but I was too distracted and busy. People kept asking me while I was in the city, “So what have you seen, where have you gone?” And I realized I hadn’t actually seen too much, besides that one time I went to MoMA for the Abstract Expressionist exhibition. I was eating most of the time. And relaxing.

Here are some of my favorite things I ate and saw while I was in NYC.

1. Fresh Maine Lobster Roll from Lobster Pound in Red Hook, Brooklyn

I took a bus to Red Hook by myself, just because I was really craving a lobster roll. It was 3 p.m. on a Saturday and the streets were practically empty, which felt kind of surreal. (No people in New York? Where am I?) I ate on a bench outside the restaurant, because I didn’t realize there were chairs next door. (I was actually prepared to eat standing up, until a bench seat opened up.) The lobster roll was just what I wanted it to be: chewy, messy and bursting with these thick, robust pieces of lobster. The only thing it needed was pickled jalapeños. Or Valentina sauce.

2. Jewish deli sandwiches

I would like to point out that the above photo only depicts half a sandwich. My dad ordered this for dinner one night, while we were staying at a hotel and decided to order in. It’s a pastrami, corned beef and tongue sandwich from Ben’s, a Jewish deli on W. 38th Street. I tried to be healthy and order a salad and hummus from another place, but I kept sneaking nibbles of my dad’s corned beef because it was absolutely fantastic. Paper-thin slices of tender, salty meat, taken up a notch when dipped in spicy mustard. My dad is still talking about this sandwich. I think there might be a future in corned beef or pastrami tortas.

3. Real American french fries. Real American potatoes.

You can’t get good potatoes in Mexico City, so when I saw “homemade french fries with curry mayo” on the menu at The Farm on Adderley, a Brooklyn restaurant where I went with my lovely new friend Gaby of Gabriela’s Kitchen, I absolutely had to order them. The french fries were good, but the main dishes were spectacular — I got roast chicken with buttery purple cabbage that was pretty much most succulent roast chicken I’ve eaten, ever. (Sorry no photo, it was too dark.) Everywhere I went, though, the french-fry craving followed me. Usually I just relied on Crayton to order them and then I’d steal off his plate. Thanks honey.

4. The view on the High Line

Multiple New Yorkers recommended that I check out the High Line, a new elevated park that traces an old railway route on Manhattan’s West Side. I wandered over by myself one weekday afternoon, and there were lots of tourists taking pictures, and people just sitting in chairs and zoning out. It’s a pretty place — you get to gaze out at New York from a perspective that’s two- to three-stories up. And there are interesting art installations to see along the trail. I highly recommend a stroll there if you’re ever in New York.

5. A wonderfully serene East Village apartment (thank you, Peter and Jonathan) and its equally serene kitchen:

I made an apple pie in this kitchen. And kale-and-corn tacos with homemade tomato salsa.

Other things that I’ll miss, that I didn’t get pictures of: Strictly Roots, a fantastic vegan soul food restaurant in Harlem (get the collard greens, and the stewed pumpkin); American cookies, which I ate with wild abandon (I especially missed anything with white-chocolate chips); and quiet, early-morning moments in the city. And of course my family and friends, who, I don’t care if I’m being hyperbolic, are just the best ever. Thanks, you guys.

It’s good to be back.