One Month Down.. One to Go

Wow, yesterday marks the end of our first month in the states and almost a month of living New York! It is without a doubt the quickest passing month of my life and I’m a little afraid that perhaps time passes faster here. I am keeping close watch for signs of unusual ageing…

Today we’re currently set up with our laptops and a plate of broccoli at the S’nice, a vegan cafe nestled in the West Village. On the days we’re not at the co-working space this area of town has swiftly become our favourite place to hang out.

In this cafe, unlike the majority of places where they prefer you not to bring your laptops at peak times, they’ve managed the conflict by simply reserving a small number of communal tables for laptop use. With the combination of guilt-free food, wifi and power outlets S’nice is everything they said it would be – yep, you got it – it’s nice.

We’ve been making a habit of going to places which do what they say on the tin-can.  Yesterday we ate our fill at a small joint in Chinatown called “Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles“. The kitchen door is left ajar and if you peek in you can see the chef beating the living crap out of a roll of dough.
He grasps it on each side and whips it up and down, banging it on the table and turning it into a long wibbly skipping rope of dough. He then repeatedly folds, twists and whacks the rope until somehow, miraculously, it becomes a stack of noodles. I imagine that’s the Hand-Pulled Noodle part of the title and I can definitely attest to the fact that the Tasty part came shortly thereafter.

Today I’m keeping close watch on my feet. If you don’t keep your feet in the West Village, it can run away with you. An afternoon working at S’nice over a quinoa salad becomes working at Minerva over a bottle of wine, which, if you’re not careful, can turn into beers at the WXOU or the White Horse Tavern, a pub which has wet the gullets of the likes of Jim Morrison, Dylan Thomas and Jack Kerouac.
Before you know it, you’re closing out the Hudson Bar and Books with a glass of Oban’s finest and a cuban cigar. At least we’d started the day with good intentions…

Reading over the blog so far I can’t help but notice that our experiences so far have been mainly food-and-drink related and with only a month to go we’re feeling the pressure to knock some of the other less edible items off our list. This weekend will be a sporty one with a Mets game and some cycling planned so I suppose next week should be designated art week.
Our two months in NYC is shaping up to be like a plate of tapas.. enough to whet the appetite but nowhere near enough to satisfy the hunger!