大雪 dàxuě / 大雪 taisetsu / 대설 daeseol
冬月初六 / sixth day of the winter month

This afternoon, my neighbour playing jazz on his saxophone got me thinking about the holiday season in New York. I started thinking about Russ & Daughters lox - in a bagel or just on its own (I ate a few hundred grams on my own in the park) - and Shake Shack burgers. I thought I should probably watch a Woody Allen film during the Christmas break. Then my thoughts went to City Bakery pretzel croissants. I even started remembering the smells of smelly Mott Street. I thought of the Lower East Side. The Villages. The C.O. Bigelow sign. Union Square and Whole Foods Market and buying Newman-O's. The laundrettes. The most common of NYC things. Central Park. Squirrels in Central Park. Shopping - Brooks Brothers, J.Press and Ralph Lauren. International Exports is where I always find something to buy. The sportswear and surplus shops - are they down Broadway? Just being in NYC - the air and the scale - so exciting!

I can't travel or astral travel to NYC right now so I did the next best thing. I went to Rita's and ate a pie.

Shortcrust pastry filled with the crumb of muffin batter dotted with blueberries. More blueberries on top and a buttercream and an icing. A cup of warm buttered maple syrup on the side. Ah!

I also had a now-mythical fried chicken roll. An up-spec McChicken with cheese and spice and without sesame seeds is how I think of it.

Good, so good.

Then I noticed a pizza-by-the-slice place called Voodoo Ray's. So next time when I get NYC longings......