the high life

It was Monday afternoon and I got off of work around 4:00. I had the entire afternoon and evening to kill before I planned to head to the gym (the NYU gym is grossly crowded every afternoon after everyone gets out of work, so I've taken to going at around 8:30 or 9 to avoid the lines and waits) and I was ready for an adventure. No, I didn't have a companion or a partner in crime, but I wasn't going to waste away any more of my time in this spectacular city just lounging on my bed in my dorm room.

I decided to go visit a bakery claiming to bake the best cookies in New York--I'd seen them on the Food Network's show Throwdown with Bobby Flay years ago and have been wanting to go ever since. As I was making my way to the subway however, a different opportunity fell in my lap. I decided to give Stephanie a call, as I am dying to go see her in her Broadway show and wanted to inquire about how to purchase tickets. As Monday just so happens to be her one day off of the week, she invited me to her Upper East side apartment to enjoy a little wine and cheese. Wine? Cheese? Two of my favorite things? I couldn't turn down that offer.

I hopped on the Subway and finally got to Steph's at around 5:00. I took a tour of their gorgeous new apartment and we chatted inside for a bit while we waited for the sun to set a little bit. Then around 6 we gathered our materials: smoked gouda cheese, some sort of soft white jalapeño cheese, a divinely creamy number that had a flavor that flirted with brie, fig preserves, some hearty stoneground crackers to put it all on, a cut up apple, some juicy red grapes, and Kendall Jackson Chardonnay. It was quite the spread.

Steph and I managed to lug all of the goods up to her rooftop terrace and spent the next two and a half hours talking, eating, and drinking to our heart's content. We watched the New York sunset as it fell below the skyline and melted into the Hudson River and I almost couldn't believe where I was. Being up there on that terrace, being able to peek into other people's apartments to see what they're doing, and being able to realize how I'm such a small part of such a big thing was kind of mind-boggling.

Finally, after plenty of drink, food, and lots of chatting, Stephanie and I went our separate ways...and I headed to the gym. After eating about a half a pound of cheese...it was necessary. It was a perfect surprise Monday evening in New York...and now we're trying to and make a weekly event of it.