Susan and I have just returned from 3 days of eating and culture in NYC and we are all jazzed up again. Nothing like the stimulation of the city and especially the food scene. We did sit next to Andrew Zimmerman of “Weird Food” fame on the Travel Channel, and more on that later.http://www.andrewzimmern.com/blog/andrew Our very first item on our itinerary was a food tasting and cultural tour on Chinatown offered by www.foodsofny.com and this experience far exceeded our expectations. Rasheem our english speaking guide had unsurpassed passion for Chinatown, spoke fluent Mandarin, had been to China 3 times and was unbelievable. A dream guide. We hit the authentic Peking Duck House, a temple of the classic dish, Chinese bakeries ( Fay Da akery, dim sum houses, tea emporiums (Ten Ren ) but the true highlight was our first stop, Dim Sum Go Go at 5 East Broadway. This is where a few days later on a return visit, we sat next to Andrew Zimmerman who was dining with a family of friends. We had a brief chat and he had reccomended we try the Duck Dim Sum. We smiled and fessed up that we had just finished 2 orders and had moved on to the Vegetarian Platter with a trilogy on wonderful condiments. Later we decided to shoot over to Chinatown Ice Cream Factory on a reccomendation for wasabi ice cream and again we run into Andrew. He suggested we try the Tangerine Lime. While they didn’t offer the wasabi as their menu changes due to the fact that they have nearly 150 flavors that they rotate in and out. Susan enjoyed the ginger and I had a mango lime. both were delicious. I didn’t know that the Chinese invented ice cream but can attest to the very satisfying experience at this wonderful spot at 65 Bayard St. Other NYC eating tips from this trip are Chelsea Market for a dozen or so restaurants, bakeries, and assorted food shops.Planet Donut @ 379 Grand Street for the best donut in the country. Zetinz Market for eye candy as well as enticing gourmet shop experience, located at 24 West 40th Street. You can’r beat Katz Delicatessen on Canal Street for the best corned beef & reubin experience.

We also took in two plays that were both terrific. We highly reccomend Bily Elliott and Impressionism with Joan Allen and Jeremey Irons along with Marth Mason. Strong acting performance and great use of visual technology. Get to the big apple soon and especially if you could view the apple blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Check out the museum next door and both are easily accessed via the subway for a 4.00 round trip.