Not a Bad Day....

Scrounged up a couple of assignments that allowed me to stay in my own neighborhood for a change. That meant I did not have to go into the office and dodge barbs from my rage-a-holic boss. Yay!

Started off my morning by walking 8 blocks north and three blocks east to my first interview of the day. One of my favorite photographers from the newspaper was assigned to work with me, so that was a big bonus. We did lots of walking for the story, about a section of Manhattan that's undergoing a big zoning change. Sounds boring, I know, but real estate is always a sexy topic in NYC.

It took several hours and lots of talking (my throat was sore!) and it was cold with a light drizzle, so around 1pm we were ready for lunch. There's a brand new restaurant in my 'hood that's just opened, I've been dying to try it and lunch is always better than dinner for me at "hip" places because I really can't stand crowds when I'm trying to eat (or shop).

We trotted over to the Red Rooster and snagged a seat. The minute I spotted this salad, I knew Photog and I were going to split it for a starter. Pickled beets, chopped hazelnuts, arugula and manchego. Sounds nasty, right? But I knew it would be delicious, and ohhhhhh .... it was.
Thankfully, it was also very small. The pickled beets (the pink stuff) were sweet, not pickley, and the arugula spicy, not bitter. The manchego flavor was hard to find, so for me that was a lost ingredient -- why put it in the menu description if you can't taste it? -- but it could be that Photog scooped it all up before I found some. I let him eat the bread and 2/3 of the salad and took about 1/3.

Then it was time for the main dish. I abstained from the deep fried chicken, the baked deep-dish greens and mac-n-cheese, the burger and fries. Instead, it was pumpernickel, cream cheese, gravlax (Swedish smoked salmon), dill, with a smidge of avocado, sweet horseradish and onions.

A sandwich for the ages. I ate it all. It was divine. I could not believe how satisfying the flavors were. I am newly in love with pumpernickel.
I even managed to refrain from ordering a Negroni beer (but Photog did), although it took a moment to impose my will upon myself. When the waitress came with the dessert menu I politely refused to take it. Why look when you're not buying? Did not want to even crack that window of possibility.

More walking all afternoon for a different story in same area. Got in some good extra movement. Got hungry again around 5pm, so ate an apple with some hummus.

Even with the walking, I still felt that I still had to go to the gym, so at the end of the day I dragged myself there for 40 minutes on the bike. I didn't get the settings right or my bike was mechanically off in some way because I couldn't really work up a sweat. Didn't feel like a "good" workout, you know?

Home for dinner, and I kind of snacked on some barley while I was cooking -- that's not good. I feel a little like I overindulged this evening.

Officially dinner was kale, with about 1/2 a cup leftover quinoa, heated with sauteed mushrooms and onions, some black beans, and cod with panko bread crumbs. But I have to count the several bites of leftover barley I ate too, dang it all.