That week-long vacation I took to the East Coast was full of food and excitement. My fiance (yes, you read that right, woohoo!) and his family made sure I ate well while in New Jersey and New York City.

One of the highlights of the trip was our Tuesday lunch stop at the Carnegie Deli on Seventh Ave. in Manhattan. On the suggestion of Brian’s cousin, Sy, we split The Woody Allen sandwich. It’s a corned beef and pastrami sandwich on rye bread. It would be more accurate to say that the sandwich consists of three pieces of rye bread dwarfed by a six-inch stack of pastrami and corned beef slices.

Being in New York, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to order a slice of cheesecake. It was huge and delicious. Needless to say, we didn’t leave the place with empty stomachs.

As we sat, surrounded by photos of famous people, we chatted, and when the University of Washington came up in conversation, the couple next to us chimed in to let us know they were from West Seattle. It’s a small world, especially when the Mariners and Pearl Jam are in NYC. Anyway, the nice couple suggested eating the corned beef from Roxy’s Diner in Fremont. I’ll have to go there next time I’m in Seattle.

Later on that day, we saw Wicked and afterward we went backstage and got to meet the actress who plays Glinda, Kendra Kassebaum. I even got to hold the wand! It was quite fun.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip. I’ll share more later.

By the way, the Carnegie Deli shares its cheesecake recipe online. I’ll let you know how it goes when I decide to make one.