..and brings with it a hefty bout of post holiday blues.
We did end on a high, however - a final hoorah in Brooklyn. We said a sad goodbye to the US beers we have come to know and love, a couple of classic New York cocktails and our favourite bacon & cheese burger of the entire trip courtesy of Putnam's of Clinton Hill.
We consider ourselves to be amateur burger connoisseurs and made a point of sampling several of Time Out New York's latest top ten burgers, including Five Guys and Shake Shack. All good burgers, we concluded, but this juicy delight, however, trumps them all, along with all other burgers that we have ever consumed. The cheddar is sharp and thick, the smoked bacon mouth-wateringly crisp to the point that it curls and twists into crunchy knots, and the pink patty oozes with juices and flavour which sink deliciously into the lightly toasted sesame seed bun. A cup of golden brown skin-on, twice-cooked fries completes the meal, all served on a thick chopping board and downed with any one of a huge list of draft beers.
Food nostalgia over.
Sitting on the stoop of our apartment building, we awaited the arrival of our cab with teary eyes. A short drive later, two very sad faces hovered over two very expensive beers at JFK airport before we hit the Duty Free for some shop-therapy.
The frowns were soon turned upside down with a last minute free upgrade to Premium Economy. Extra wide, front row seats with leg rests and a 'cocktail table', giant on-demand TV screens with over-ear headphones, a fillet beef roast dinner served on china plates with real cutlery and red wine in real wine glasses, and enough leg room to stretch right out and settle down to a few movies while the British shore drew ever nearer.
Exactly one year after we were last here, we roll through Heathrow's T5 with a little bit more luggage than we left with, thanks to several New York shopping trips and a penchant for Brooklyn's flea markets.
We now sit in Rosie's Mum's house near Chelmsford, Essex, feeling jet-lagged and rather weirded out by the whole "coming-home" experience. There we were, enjoying another normal day in Brooklyn, popping to the shops, eating our cereal, watching the morning news, when suddenly someone, somewhere, snapped their fingers and zapped us back to Britain in a few short minutes, as if the whole thing never happened.
When my body and mind return to a fully functioning state, I will try and summarise our epic, unforgettable five-and-a-bit months in the USA.
The end of an incredible year, the end of the road and the end of our round the world adventure. Yet, somehow, I suspect, not quite the end - not just yet...
No comments:
Post a Comment