Weekend with Todd

Despite the rain this weekend, we had such a nice time! Todd's flight was delayed coming in on Friday night, so we didn't end up leaving the apartment until around 10:00. We decided to find a place to eat and finally settled on a little Mediterranean/Italian spot in the East Village called Virage. It was cute, the service was very good (especially given that it was almost midnight) and the food was better than we expected! On Saturday, we spent the entire day walking around. We went as far north as West 86th Street and as far south as Tribeca. I took Todd to show him the Bouley Bakery, and we split a delightful and beautiful dessert called the Ispahan. It was a combination of rose-flavored, meringue-like cookies, pastry cream and fresh raspberries! Delicious! We walked down Canal Street through Chinatown and back to the apartment to get ready for dinner. We had dinner at a Spanish/tapas restaurant called Barca 18. The restaurant is part of a group of restaurants owned and operated by a New York restaurateur named Stephen Hanson . We talked about him in my classes and through my research outside of class I've found his philosophies to be right up my alley. He's very customer-focused and New York magazine said he's "made a science of pleasing people." Sounds like a great plan for running a business! We went out for (a couple) more drinks after dinner and got home late. It was so much fun! Sunday was a lazy day and, unfortunately, Todd had to leave to catch a 4:30 flight. Big plans tonight to catch the first 2 hours of "24."