Thanks to JetBlue, Epicurious Travelers from Portland, Maine, can be in New York City in less than an hour. I take advantage of this crazy phenomenon to meet my oldest friend for a sunrise breakfast in Morningside Heights.
The cityscape is wildly colorful. Sometimes a little bleak, but always interesting.
And if you don’t like the view, I am so sad for you.
Free Range Fab
We meet at at Community Food and Juice on Broadway. I graze on whole-wheat breakfast biscuit with chicken-apple-rosemary sausage. There are carrot hash browns and tomato jam. Stevie’s omelet features local feta and free-range eggs. Delicious. This place caramelizes everything, from bananas to applesauce. You cannot possibly argue with any of this.
Local Brooklyn Roasting Co. coffee is served with “traceable” cream from Battenkill Valley in Salem, NY. Lovely and amazing.
After a fully productive day, I recharge at JFK airport’s AeroNuova with a plate of tuna tartare – not bad. The respectable wine list is mostly Italian, and there are plenty of outlets for your iPad. 
Best of all are the endless Italian films. I sip a glass of Gavi under La Dolce Vita and watch the beautiful “Marcello” being abusive and wretched. In the last scene, he shrugs – che bello! and forgives himself.
Like Cinderella, I am home at midnight, dreaming in Italian. •
EpicuriousTravelers.com 
What a life!
Libby, Your photos are brilliant! I have ordered a Nikon Coolpix from Amazon. It was recommended by Consumers, It should be here in a week or so. You can use it here instead of shlepping your camera. I hope it is as good as yours!
I just forwarded this to Nancy and Jacob. Did you send it to the whole family?
lovelovelovelove you, Veecha
Ahhhhhhhhhh, Marcello. Or at least a version of Marcello. May I just say that you ROCK!!!!! That is my old “indulgence” neighborhood. When we couldn’t stand it any longer up on 173rd street(i.e., every day, we made an excuse to go swim at the Columbia pool and get oh-so-healthy), we would go to V&T pizza for a tabletop of melted cheese goo hovering over redredred (we were training to be nurses after all) sauce and crust. Devour it. THEN…..move crab-like next door…”oh, I don’t know”…..”I could use some coffee”…..”before I study for that huge test tomorrow”…..and emerge from The Hungarian Pastry Shop about three hours later. Now about three Chubette sizes larger but feeling strong and capable and foxy and able to jump on the AA train and head for home at 173rd… xoxoxo