Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I'm just back from a very pleasant few hours with cattitude, womzilla, roadnotes, and beetiger. Dim sum and walking through Chinatown and north as far as Eighth Street afterwards, and plenty of cheerful conversation. Jing Fong (20 Elizabeth Street) was good, as usual; I even got water chestnut cakes, which I usually don't, because few other people like or want to try them. We started with sticky rice in lotus leaf, and then ranged through an assortment of dumplings, roast pork, and the like, meaning to end with clams in black bean sauce, some greens, and a scallop dish (the woman whose cart the scallops were on intercepted Roadnotes as we walked back to the table with the clams and the greens), and then at the last minute two things we'd been hoping for, roast duck and egg custard tarts, turned up, so we got them despite being rather full. The custard tart eaters told me they were a superior example; had I been less full, I might have tried a bite, but I was making room for duck instead.

We walked through Chinatown a bit, and after a few tries found some plausible baby bok choy and Spanish clementines, then headed north on the grounds that Canal Street is Too Crowded, and Roadnotes wanted to stop in the Village and Beetiger was eventually headed for Chelsea. Along the way, I mentioned that we were near a good cheesecake shop, and that interested Womzilla, so everyone but Cattitude and I wound up with mini cheesecakes. (He works two blocks away, so we can have them anytime we're in the mood, and he was already carrying the citrus.)

I got near the limit of available energy, and my ankle was a little sore by Houston Street, but not bad enough to stop me; I am drinking tea and reading, and am not planning on heading out again today. I had gym gear with me, but it was a nice day, and walking with friends on a nice day, by January standards at least, was much more appealing than going to the gym alone. Walking is also exercise.