Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Breakfast on Bleeker



The best part of NY in the summertime might be that you don't have to sit down for coffee or a meal every ninety minutes just to get out of the freezing cold. I loved being able to grab a round, fuzzy, large apricot to go from the Union Square Market, eat a hot dog in Central Park, or lick on a creamy dreamy frozen chocolate and vanilla custard cone from the Shake Shack while strolling under a canopy of park trees. Iced coffee was everywhere, and for some reason, infinitely better than the numerous cups of bad hot coffee I had during my last visit. This makes no sense, but was a very welcome summertime perk. I also love how in NY they ask you if you want milk and sugar in your coffee and add it for you... no swizzle stirrers or pots of skim, whole, and two percent in this city! But coffee talk is a bit tangential right now. What's on my mind is yogurt.

Yesterday morning I woke up still full from dinner. This can be a big problem in NY -- you eat so much you aren't hungry for the next meal! In this case I might have gone a bit too big at The Little Owl in the West Village. For some reason it seemed prudent to order meatball sliders, fries, calamari, and (thankfully) a couple of salads to share with a girlfriend. There was the bottle of Italian white wine too. It was a bit too much (though delicious and delightful) and I found myself waddling back to my hotel room on a warm summer night.

I felt better in the morning, but not so much better that I wanted to indulge in any more gluttonous NY behavior. But a few hours later, I did get hungry. I had a carton of Siggi's Yogurt in my bag which I ate while walking down Bleeker Street. It was one of my favorite meals.

This is Icelandic style yogurt, which means that it's been strained to make it extra thick, but not as thick and sour cream-ish as greek yogurt. It was mild, not too sweet, full of protein, and very healthy tasting. It was so good, I even stopped to take a picture and rip off the label which I promptly lost.

But thanks to the wonders of the internet I now know that Siggi's is sold at Whole Foods (and at New Seasons too, Portlanders) so one fine day I may have to venture in to get me some Siggi's.

Back at home in SF, I am trying to convince my stomach not to be hungry until West Coast time, cope with an empty fridge, a grey day and piles of laundry. I wish there was Siggi's in the fridge and I really wish the sun was shining.

Coming home can be hard sometimes.

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