Mealtime minions

There's something in New York that doesn't quite exist elsewhere. No, it's not the Empire State Building. Nope, it's not the throngs of pushy people exiting and entering the crowded subways during rush hour. And, naw, it's not even the TV home of the Huxtables, Carrie Bradshaw, and Lucy and Ricky. It's those guys who ride through the streets on slow-moving bicycles going in the wrong direction. It's those guys who have heavy-duty baskets attached to the front of their bipedal vehicles laden with paper bags, tin plates with cardboard tops, and plastic soup containers. It's those restaurant delivery guys who ride through the slick streets on a mission: to bring the people their food.

Or, rather, to bring me my food. I've had more come-to-me food here than anywhere else, and it's not just the pizza and Chinese food variety. And, it's not because it's cold outside and I don't want to leave the apartment nor because I find the act of opening the door to a stranger and exchanging money in my pajamas thrilling. It's because I can.

Let's recount the meals:

There was the grilled vegetable sandwich on foccacia with a side salad and vinegrette from Kate's. The grilled veggies were not the usual lame-o garden variety, but eggplant, zucchini, bell pepers, onions, and who knows what else--all accompanied wtih a tomato pesto. Karen ordered a tasty portobello and spinach salad from them, and of which I had a couple of bites.

There was the Cuban food from the Upper West Side place near Gabe's place, that actually didn't go too badly with the Reisling and watching Clueless en francais. My rice dish with chorizo and chicken came in a tin plate with a cardboard top, the black beans in a paper/plastic container, and the super garlicky garlic sauce in a teeny-tiny clear plastic cup with lid. They all got mixed together into a tasty melange before entering my belly.

And, yesterday, there was the shalafel, a combination of falafel and shawerma from some place not too far away. This came in such a fancy plastic container with separate compartments for the salad, pickels, and rice that Tupperware is looking at some fierce competition.