NYC, I will miss you.

Today, A. and I embarked on the same pilgrimage we undertake every time one of us is leaving New York City for an extended period of time. We eat at the overpriced, not-so-good Popover Cafe and convince the (alternately surly/flamboyant) waiter to take a picture of us.

Then we walk and walk. This time we made it as far as H&H bagels (see photo of A. with a pack of lox), where we loitered for a while because of the air conditioning and amazing bagel smell.

We hopped on the subway -- also, thankfully, air conditioned, but not nearly as sweet-smelling -- and got off at 14th Street. We wandered around Greenwich Village, where we found some statues (see picture) and some well-dressed junkies (too embarrassed to take a picture).

We also found a bar with a special name: The Stoned Crow. I will not speculate on the meaning of this particular name, except that it must have been incredibly auspicious for us to have found it on this particular venture downtown.

We continued on to a massive street fair in Little Italy--I have never seen so much meat and pastry in one place--and then to the inevitable Babycakes for the inevitable frosting shot. For those of you who don't know what a Babycakes frosting shot is:

1. It is a crying shame that you are so unenlightened.
2. Babycakes is a vegan, gluten-free, spelt-tastic bakery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where the pastries actually taste like real food. It is incredible. You can ask anyone who has been there. The website is www.babycakesnyc.com.
3. Babycakes, while famous for its beautiful cupcakes / muffins / brownies / cookies, is especially famous for its secret-recipe frosting. The only thing we know about the frosting is that it's sweetened with agave nectar (??) and that it's *amazing*. And because it's vegan, well, it must be good for you.
4. Erin McKenna, the genius behind the Babycakes empire, knew her fan base. So she decided to make it possible for customers to purchase tablespoon-sized portions of the unbelievable Babycakes frosting. They squirt it right out of the funnel and into tiny paper cups. Today, the frosting was purple.
5. These frosting shots, by the way, cost $1.50 each. This would be utter highway robbery for regular frosting, but trust me, at Babycakes it's totally worth it.
6. Also, Erin McKenna was in Babycakes while we were there today. I was so high on frosting that I didn't see her, but A. was smart enough to snap a picture of "my frosting shot" that caught the estimable Ms. McKenna in the background. Unfortunately, it's really blurry. My one brush with celebrity: blurry. Thanks.

And so it is with the taste of agave nectar on my tongue that I must get down to sorting out what I need to take with me for the next seven months in India, and -- more importantly -- what I don't. Wish me luck!