New York is a big city, and it attracts a lot of creative individuals. Consequently, it seems that every person selling coffee here has their own interpretation of a machiato. One place served me a long black with some milk on the side. Yestderday, half the cup was filled with foam. Now I do appreciate creativity, just not with my coffee. I think I saw a quote recently that in New York, coffee is simply for drinking, not tasting. If I had set out to find the best coffee in New York, my mission would have failed before it had begun. Their idea of good coffee is the coffee made by Starbucks. At one place, the gentleman serving me told me that he had been told that his coffee was better than Starbucks. He was wrong, which unfortunately says a lot about the standard of coffee in New York City. I think in future I'll stick to my double espresso...

In other news, yesterday I decided to start taking the whole bagel business seriously. I was in Barnes & Noble the other day, and I spotted a book on places to have breakfast and brunch in New York. I then started reading about the "New York Bagel Wars" of the 70s. There appear to have been three major players in these frays: H&H Bagels, Ess-a-Bagel, and Absolute Bagels. I went to H&H Bagels yesterday morning and bought a cinammon raisin bagel. Only problem is that they don't toast or butter them there, they just sell them. So I had to have it plain, along with a hot beverage they like to call "coffee", as I walked over to Central Park. It's hard to compare them to the ones I've been eating anywhwere else because I ate it plain.

I had my first celebrity sigthing two days ago as well. I was at "Big Nick's Burger Joint" on Broadway, and at the table about two metres away was one of the actors from Law & Order. I don't know if he is still in the show, but I think hew was one of the detectives. I don't know the neam of his character, but he was tall, skinny, grey hair, and in the show he usually wears sunglasses. I always thought he looked suspiciously like Henry Winkler. He was with his dog and he ate a slice of margherita pizza, then he left. Bet that kind of juicy information doesn't make the tabloids...

Anyway, 'till next time, take care,
Dale