Expresso Love

I am incredibly jittery but have had an excellent first full day in NYC. This is, in part, due to some great coffee moments. The aforementioned 24-hour cappuccino maker at the hotel is amazing — it grinds the beans to-order and makes one of the best coffees I've had in America, all at the touch of a button.

Great Coffee Moment #2 was my obligatory trip to Jack's Stir Brew, in the Village, which is by far my favourite coffee house in the city (not least because the coffee tastes great). It is tiny inside with only about 4 tables and I was lucky today because Jack, the owner, was there. Jack is incredibly friendly. We had a good chat about the difficulty of finding decent coffee in New York (and in America more generally) before I sat down with my iced espresso macchiato and poppy seed bagel. 

In non-coffee news, after a Shoreham Happy Martini (melon vodka, pineapple, etc.) in the hotel's turquoise bar, we dined last night at P.J. Clarke's which is in the running for best burger in New York. They also have a decent wine list and the atmosphere is perfect: there is a lively crowd with a mixture of age-groups and great background music. I couldn't manage a pudding but the burger was great. It was then getting on for 10 p.m. so having been up for over 20 hours, I called it a night.

This morning, I took my cappuccino for a walk in Central Park and then walked the 60 blocks down to Greenwich Village for assorted wandering, coffee-drinking, shopping and flirting opportunities. Then walked all the way back up, via Bloomies. Tonight, we're off to see some off-Broadway show and then the brother and I will hopefully hit the town with his NY friend. This certainly is the life...