My one day of freedom

I skipped the morning conference session (I had no desire to hear the harrowing tale of an Iraq war survivor). I met my friend Christine at S'mac (on 12th St) for heavenly GF mac and cheese, then we had coffee at a nice coffee house around the corner, and then she dropped me at the Strand (8 miles of books!) I made a whirlwind tour and ended up with a nice-sized bag of loot. I stopped at Max Brenner chocolates (as recommended by Christine) and bought some very over-priced truffles and chocolate bubble bath. I lingered for a few minutes in Union Square, and bought the kids some animals made of soapstone. Then I jumped on a subway to get back in time for the award dinner rehearsal.

Then we rushed back to the room to change for the Dine Around. We took cabs downtown to the Old Homestead (the oldest steakhouse in Manhattan). Delicious dinner (and pricey - we dropped about $3000). I was disappointed that we didn't stay for coffee and dessert (I was jonesing for creme brule). Instead we headed back uptown for drinks on a roof deck bar called Tonic East.