A Very New York Day

Last night I went to an industry party down on Wall Street and I knew they would not be serving vegetable hors d'oeuvres, so I planned ahead. Meeting my friend in Union Square to take the train downtown, I got there early and popped into my old favorite, The Coffee Shop. Instead of my requisite vegan wrap, I went with the veggie burger and avocado instead - obviously, more calories and carbs, but it was delicious! For lunch I went to Sapporo next to Rockefeller Center where I was one of three non-Japanese people in this over-crowded restaurant...a good sign. I had the vegetable ramen which was very good, but I am still partial to Menku Tei on 56th.

The party was held on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange which was very, very cool! I have never been and it was a real treat to go on the actual NYSE floor for a party! True to form it was the typical hors d'oeuvres of fried concoctions, with cocktail bars sprinkled throughout this bastion of finance. Obviously, the security was quite strict to say the least! My friend used to be a broker and he was explaining all the ins and outs of this intimidating room filled with monitors and numbers. He picked up a pad of buy slips, which littered the tables, and explained how the stocks or whatever were traded on the floor. I confess I took one of the small blank slips of white "Buy" ("Sell" are pink) pieces of paper as a souvenir.

It was a pretty fun event, and as I left I stopped to chat with a police officer who was munching on almonds - she offered me some, and I commented that it was nice to see a cop eating raw almonds and not glazed donuts...she thought that was funny.  My buddy and I then decided to stop off at the bar, Knickerbocker, to continue our conversation. There we met a fashion editor for Glamour magazine complaining about her photographer during that day's cover shoot which certainly added to the conversation. All in all a thoroughly New York City evening!

So, My Vegan Quest will live on past Nov. 1st. I really appreciate all the emails I received asking my to keep writing...thank you!

But, writing daily is just too much of too little to write about, so, after November 1st, my one year anniversary, I will be writing a weekly post in My Vegan Quest every Sunday night.