Soho

The next stop on my quest for a bridesmaid's dress was Soho. It is extremely difficult to find parking there, so I took the subway. Usually, the train is filled with the up most interesting sorts of people and so rather than bring along a book, I generally people watch. Today, however, the train was mostly empty and so all I had to stare at was an older lady doing a crossword puzzle, two college buys griping about their class as they inserted the f word every few seconds, and a man emitting a rather foul odor. Thankfully, I did not have to be subject to his rancid smell for long, since Soho is one of the first stops once you have reached Manhattan. If you are going shopping, Soho is a good place to do it because it is really quite beautiful. Wooster street, the street that I visited first, was cobble stoned with a bunch of small shops. The neighborhood is hip and funky and for an avid people watcher it was a lot of fun. I stopped by Morgan Le Fay which has gorgeous dresses but they are all rather expensive. I saw two the I liked but they were a couple grand (sigh), and so I kept looking. Bloomingdales in Soho has much less of a variety than the main branch on Lexington, and so I was unsuccessful there as well. Barneys co-op was also a failure. The search continues. The scenery stopped me from getting too dejected, however, and so I made my way back to the train happily enough. Yet, due to rush hour, the train was beyond congested. There was a girl reading Steig Larson's book "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" as well as quite a few other readers but I couldn't see much of anyone else since the crowd was too dense. I got home just in time to go to dinner with my sister and a friend at Basil again, this time for salad, pizza, and fries. The food, as always, was amazing, although the fish I was itching to try was unavailable due to the fact that it was out of season, but the service had improved greatly. The fries were unlike any other fries I had ever eaten. Fried golden so that they were nice and crisp they had a basil flavor and were sprinkled with baked flakes of Parmesan cheese. Instead of the usual ketchup to dip your fries into, we were given a garlic truffle oil mayo. It was really really good. The Cesar salad was crisp and light and a bit deconstructed as instead of your usual croutons and cheese there was a piece of garlic toast and a frico of cheese. I left with a content, full feeling in my stomach - a good sign as there is a fast tomorrow.