I was advised to skip breakfast. This advice was taken so a lazy morning was had.
The advice came from Gary, the curator of the 9/11 Museum Workshop I had visited with Nancy, and Gil a few days before. The reason for this advice was due to prevalence of Japanese food that was likely to come my way at lunchtime.
To this end, I made my way to the corner of 7th Avenue, and 21st Street to “Momoya Sushi”. It is one of three such restaurants that exist in Manhattan. I have notice a number of NYC-only chains that the New Yorkers are quite proud of. Another being “7th Street Burger”, which I had sampled back in the East Village, again on Gary’s recommendation.
In this restaurant was a friend of Gary’s who rolls the sushi, and I had it on good authority that he was quite the best in the city. This was confirmed by the well-filled box that landed in front of me, containing a mix of the most delicious food. There was indeed fantastic sushi, alongside tempura, teriyaki, and noodle-covered dumplings. I munched my way through the majority of it, somewhat to Gary’s surprise that I could put away a lot of food for a “thin guy” (I will take that).
Gary and I discussed life experiences, and compared notes on USA/UK aspects of life that are similar, or different. This conversation continues through a branch of “Trader Joe’s”. This is essentially a high-end supermarket which reminded me somewhat of “Waitrose” in the UK. Here, Gary was stocking up on supplies for a friend of his. A supermarket adventure in a foreign country is always good fun, and I was intrigued by items that I would not expect to see in the Dalgety Bay branch of “Asda”.
Afterwards we dropped in to the Gary’s museum to put some of the food in the fridge. At one point Gary was in the “restroom”, and I realised I was on my own in a room with a piece of a 9/11 ‘plane. It’s interesting where life can take you.
We parted ways with a promise to meet again, and I walked to the end of 15th Street. Nancy had advised me of “Pier 57”. Here there was a rooftop garden with views right down to the Statue of Liberty between Manhattan, and New Jersey. I had a very refreshing “Yuzu Arnold Palmer Bubble Tea”, and enjoyed the cool of a rather nice food court.
Right next to this was “Pier 54”. This is really a piece of history hiding in plain sight as it is the pier where the Titanic passengers disembarked the “Carpathia” after they were rescued. Of course the tragedy of that ship is well known, and was added to in 2023 with the impression of the “Titan” submersible. The writing on the metal structure at the pier can still be read as “Cunard”, the company who owned the (unintended) rescue vessel.
Here there is “Little Island”. It’s an artificial structure with maze-like paths leading around it. I paused again, and enjoyed a lemonade. As I “tipped”, the nice serving person shook my lemonade for me.
My feet took me back to the East Village, still feeling quite full from the sushi. After a quick pit-stop at the apartment, I headed along to “Club Cumming”, just a couple of blocks further down the street. When I got there I was the first in, but I was warmly welcomed so ordered a beer.
The audience was small, but appreciative and the host (“Cunning Stunt”) worked very hard to make it a very enjoyable time. I ordered a Cosmopolitan, and raised it to some friends back in Scotland who’ve just got engaged, and are fond of this particular cocktail. I won nothing, but really enjoyed myself.
