Further nattering about the wonders of New York

I cannot do justice to the weekend's happy times in NYC in a coherent text post. Herewith the highlights instead.

• The Shanghai Joe's [ETA: D'oh, it's Joe's Shanghai] waitress who greeted every customer with the same question: "You need some dumpling for start off?" Oh, hon...always.
  
• The weather. September in New York is the city at some sort of platonic ideal.
  
• Street markets. Everywhere. With puppies! And a jewelry vendor who accused me of taking advantage of her mental exhaustion following Rosh Hashanah! And free samples of organic lavender shea butter from Brooklyn! And food that would have looked delicious had I not been full of dumplings and pastries from...
• Rocco's Bakery. I've gone there since I was a wee lil moppet, seeing three or four different redecorations, throughout which the counter crew of streetwise Sicilian kids and their realm of confectionery goodness have remained unchanged.
  
• Negotiating the East Village, with my usual quota of wrong turns (I swear, the place spins my mental compass like a ship's in the Triangle), to finally meet up with SerialKarma and her coterie of fangirls, for beers and a slice and very disturbing references to childhood books.
  
• Finally, after a lapse of 20 years, having yuk hwe again. Kunjip serves it with jicama (or maybe it's pears) and shreds of a deceptively innocent-looking green pepper that tried to remove my lips. Good thing there were panchan dishes and rice and pancakes and bulgogi and ginger tea.
• Pinkberry! Please export this chain to DC as soon as possible; I would sacrifice the city's half-assed creperies for access to Pinkberry's delicious sour-sweet frozen yogurt.
• Herr Professor's cooking. What that man does with tofu scramble and bean sprouts to make them taste so much like chorizo hashbrowns and french toast and perfect bacon must be black magic known only to the initiates.
• Finally, and not least by any stretch of the imagination, getting reacquainted with Herr Professor and Weebat. As glad as I am that the internets have allowed us to maintain a friendship through a set of unregulated tubes, it's a great pleasure to have real face time with them. Vote for Santa, you two; vote for Santa.