Postcard 031 - Food & Family
I'm heading back from NYC tomorrow, grateful for food and family time.
The last few days have been enriching and not just because of this Adjaruli Khachapuri from Chama Mama in Chelsea (though egg, cheese, butter... I mean... you get it). This was the first trip in a long time that I've taken and stayed with friends chosen family instead of a hotel (thank you N&S!) and that's been a lovely change. I got a chance to be a part of/plug into people's lives in a way I normally wouldn't, and have appreciated the little rituals of morning coffee during dog walks and evening TV shows.
We've also had my favorite kind of weather in NYC — the post-summer not-yet-really-fall kind of days where it's not cold enough that you're unhappy, but it's not warm enough you can survive in a t-shirt alone. I've loved walking through the city, opting for as much of that as I can, which has been a lovely change from my June visit in near 100' temperatures.
I'm realizing that my feelings about NYC are highly correlated to the weather, with this trip feeling less stifling than the summer one. I'm sure having a real home base (or at least a home home base rather than a hotel home base) contributes to that, but I can tell that the weather matters... a lot.
This trip was very much about depth over breadth, seeing fewer friends over longer meals. It's a trade off I'm happy with, and a nudge for me to learn how to be more okay not trying to see all the wonderful people I know in the city when I'm here.
Leaving NYC always pushes me to think about when to come back, which is probably the right time to leave a place — satisfied, but hungry for more.