Just got back from a week in New York. Here’s a taste of how it went:

Went to a taping of Iron Chef America (cheers to the most delicious item in that kitchen, whose name rhymes with Heaven Crush, for getting us in, and for being an integral part of why the week was so good); ate some amazing food (so many places, but two words direct from Bob Blumer: Vai Spuntino. Go, and thank me later); spent coveted time with one of my longest-running soul mates and met a handful of new people I plan to love for a lifetime; enjoyed the heat of a Central Park meander in July; explored Brooklyn for the first time (if you love funky design go to Building on Bond, and thank me later), drank some smashingly good cocktails night after eventful night, my fav being a little ditty called Absinthe Minded (if you’re a cocktail connoisseur, hit Employees Only, and thank me later); and indulged in a handful of other pleasures that make NYC one of my favourite places on the planet. Oh, and then I ate a whole lot more food.

Before someone asks, yes I went to Eataly. I wanted to shoot myself in the eye. What a gong show. We got there at 7:17pm. We got the text telling us space was opening up and we could come on in at 10:04pm, at which point we’d already contentedly diverted to Otto Enoteca. I’m sure the new beer garden is amazing; I will enjoy it when it’s not so high on the NY Hot List.

So what of this vegan+yoga challenge you may ask? The yoga is easy, especially because I had my own apartment in Brooklyn with plenty of space for some salutations and warriors, but I won’t lie: I had a tad more than one cheat meal a day while on this trip. I did scope out some very good vegan/vegan-friendly joints - Sacred Chow being a fave - but more than once during the week I dove gleefully off the wagon and into steak tartar or Alaskan crab or ribs from Spice Market. Oh my, those ribs …

For me, going to New York and avoiding meat is like going to an art gallery and purposely averting my eyes from the Picassos. But also great food makes me very happy to be alive, and I need some of that these days. It has not been an easy year, which might be the understatement of the year, and NYC was a delicious reprieve from which I did not want to return. In fact, at JFK on my way home it took an invite to the Sky Lounge for a few drinks from a charming man named Scott to keep me from flat-out sulking. This year has been full of ‘taking my lumps’ and I wanted to taste la dolce vida instead in all its forms, even if just for a week.

That being said, after a few days I did find myself voluntarily wanting to get back to my vegan options. I do actually want to make the personal revolutions in my life that this site is about. It’s important, even more important than New York beef it seems. If you know me, you know that’s a pretty big deal for me to say.

So now I’m home and reality is once again setting in with a thud. Yet I am more contented than ever to chose a grapefruit over a cupcake. Let the revolution continue …