New York, New York

I had a great day of meetings and to top it off, the weather was beautiful. I'm SO grateful. It was about 78 degrees and sunny around noon. The only bummer was the taxi driver strike. You can find some cabs around here but they're charging $10 per person per zone and there are about 6 zones in Manhattan. I mainly walked around today since my hotel was only about 10 blocks from most appointments. They say the strike will only last 48 hours but now we're hearing it could be longer. Oh, and did I mention that both Fashion Week and the US Open are going on around here? No wonder we had such trouble finding a hotel. Oh, and those cabbies are damn smart! If you don't want to strike around Christmas time then this would be our second best opportunity to stick it to the city.

Ok, so I'm in NYC so naturally I'll be talking about food. Tonight we ate at Nobu. I've been to Nobu Next Door but tonight was my first time at Nobu. It's no news flash but I gotta say it: Chef Nobu Matsuhisa is officially a genius. I didn't even know I liked sushi until I ate at Nobu Next Door and Nobu was just as wonderful. They're what every sushi restaurant strives to be. Still I often forget how much I enjoy sushi since I don't eat it very often. I therefore wasn't terribly enthusiastic about tonights dinner selection BUT Nobu sushi is a world of it's own. It was amazing. We tried several dishes and shared but I think my favorite was the Cod. It's something I would NEVER order on my own but man was it good. It was a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth dish that I'll crave for a long time to come. Some at our table turned up their noses at the Tempura but I pointed out "Nobu Tempura is probably not like the tempura we know." They later thanked me for ordering the Crab Tempura. It was outstanding. Honestly, everything we tried was fabulous. The Rock Shrimp and Yellowtail were to-die-for and I'm here to tell you that a Nobu fish taco is not to be believed. Still, one friend kept saying "I'm still hungry! I need some carbs." To which I said "Great, you'll have room for dessert."

- Flash forward 20 minutes-

We're heading to Serendipity 3. Have I mentioned Serendipity before? WELL, Serendipity is an incredible fire trap of a restaurant that everyone visits for the decadent desserts. The famed Frozen Hot Chocolate is the main attraction. It's made of 14 chocolates that are blended into an amazing chocolate milk shake concoction that's is an experience in itself. There were five us us for dinner but only four went for dessert. The one guy in the group had to get back to his room to get some work done. Since cabs were scarce, we packed him onto a rickshaw that carried him away down Fifth Avenue. I wish I had my camera for that scene.

We walked past Tiffany & Co. I said "I've never been in there. It's so tragic." The girls agreed then ran over to peer in the windows. They were tearing down the window displays for the night and I couldn't but notice the guy doing the work in my window was a super-cutie. I'm know I'm getting old because when I see overly attractive men I now have to bite my tongue to keep from shouting "Holy crap are you cute!" This time I just shook my head, walked away, pointed over my shoulder and told my friends "Hottie, stage right!" They all ran to the window and looked up the poor guy. I'd like to say he was surprised but, honestly, I don't think it was the first time that had happened to him. We continued down Fifth past Yves Saint Laurant, Burberry, Chanel, Dior, Van Cleef & Arpels and a bunch of other mega-spendy storefronts. I know it's an avenue of blood diamonds but *sigh*... they're pretty.

Once at Serendipity we each ordered a dessert to share. One friend ordered the Frozen Hot Chocolate. I ordered the Sandie Tart Sundae (butter pecan cookies under cinnamon ice cream and hot chocolate and whipped cream). The other two friends ordered the Can't Be Believed Sundae (Humble Pie, ice cream, hot fudge and whipped cream) and the Serendipity Banana Split - Coward's Edition. It only had three scoops of ice cream as opposed to the five scoop version. All were great. The Frozen Hot Chocolate showed up with four straws. At one point I was standing up, holding my hair back and sipping from a Frozen Hot Chocolate straw. I sat down and said "Jeez, I feel like I'm at a frat party doing a bong hit or something." I took a picture of it all but can't seem to pick it up from my email. I'll try posting it later.

In the elevator, on my way back to my room, a few of us were agreeing to meeting tomorrow morning at 8:15 am. Another elevator passenger cried "8:00 in the morning?! What kind of place is this?" She was holding a glass of wine and was pretty well tanked. She was obviously a Fashion Week victim. I don't think we'll be seeing her in the lobby tomorrow morning.