This is why I'll miss Manhattan.

What a wonderful weekend! This Friday, I went to the post-doc happy hour with Fanny, Irineu, William and Haydelise. Such a good time to catch up and talk about random things. Afterwards, I met up with Meera, Steph, Gary, Em, Neehan, Hearst, etc at Stout, on W. 33th Street between 6th Ave and 7th, for a multi-school happy hour. It was a cool place to grab a drink and talk to people. Around 7ish, I went a few blocks north and I met new people as I learned how to make Jamaican patties for Craig's birthday. We sampled Jamaican rum and watched Family Guy while eating Chipotle. Let me say that running on five hours of sleep is hardly enough to prevent dropping things and losing hand-eye-coordination with flour, lard and a food processor.

Saturday, I went to AMNH and ran PCRs and genotyped palm samples from Colombia. It was great to go out on the steps where the Teddy Roosevelt statue is and read the Forever War by Dexter Wilkins. It's really moving. Because the war is so removed from us, it's difficult to imagine what it would be like to hover in fear with each passing second. Bombs, fighter plans, bullets that seem to come from everywhere. [Today, NYT and BBC reported about a car bomb in Times Square that was caught before it detonated. I am shocked. I know we're living in a hostile time, but I've never felt unsafe in New York City. I take this security for granted.] Kenny came for a visit and we had brunch at the Sun-Burnt Calf on W. 79th between Amsterdam and Broadway. I had poached eggs with smoked salmon and avocado on a biscuit with Jameson on ice. The Australian bartender treated me to a second one, which was super nice. Then we went to a gelato place and got too much gelato. I always want sweets but then tell Kenny I don't want to go, but he insists. I resent that I give in, I need to have better self-control in eating unhealthy things in excess. We stopped by Rob's apt in Meatpacking before I met up with Jeremy to check out the paint color in his room. I went home and took a nap before going to Asian Pub at Cooper Square, McSorley's on E. 7th where we met a bunch of Brits celebrating a 37th birthday, Phebes on Bowery and E. 4th to meet up with Florine. It was so crowded so we hopped in a cab to Arlo and Esme on E. 1st between 1st and 2nd Ave. We finally met a bunch of Florine's dental school friends, which was a lot of fun. We walked to Pomme Frites on 2nd Ave and E. 7th St. and had some great fries with mango chutney and eggplant mayo. Sherman introduced us to a taste of Canada with Poutine. Good stuff.

Today was amazing. Meera and I went to SoHo to shop for bathing suits for our upcoming trip to the Carribean. I found a bright red one that would have been "radiant red" if it was in a Crayola box of crayons. I love it! Meera bought a few great pieces and we called it a day with mango Pinkberry on Spring St. and Lafayette. If I could do it over again, I would have left out the chocolate crisps from my cone and had a few more bites of mango frozen yogurt. So refreshing... it was just what the doctor ordered.