NYC Part I: Lower East Side

Hooray! I didn't fall through the subway grate in NYC. It was a danger, you know. But I had a fantastic visit.

The best shopping I did was on the Lower East Side. I was trying to find things that I can't get in Houston.

First of all, I'm glad I finally got to go to Muji, even though I'm now convinced that "Muji" is Japanese for "Ikea." Pearl River Mart was a lot of fun, and I got the cutest tote EVER while I was there (see above) [you can actually buy it on the Internet]. Dean and Deluca had some great stuff, though it was so packed you could barely turn around. I didn't buy much there, because you can actually get fetishized produce in Houston. Oh, but they had very small pouches of Kookabura licorice, which I've been wanting to try. [FYI: the black tastes even more like licorice, so if that's your thing, you'd like it. I really liked the red -- the texture was so much better than Red Vines.]

I missed Ted Muehling because they were closed on Sundays (thought I checked that...). So I didn't get to visit my favorite earrings.

Russ and Daughters was pretty amazing. A TINY little shop -- all the pictures make it look bigger -- and it was absolutely mobbed on Sunday. I was on an errand to bring back bialys for Letitia. I asked the man at the counter, "What kind of bialys do you have?" and he gave me a lecture on how there was only ONE kind of bialy; "they don't make blueberry banana bialys or whatevah." He was funny in a gruff way.

While I was in the neighborhood I ate lunch at Ray's Pizzeria. It was fine. The sausage was pretty good. I think it must have been authentic because there were people shouting at each other in Italian while I was there.

Okay, more later.