This Nosh New Yorker is back to blogging - after a three year absence!

It has been over three years since I last posted on this blog! In that time, I've not only continued to operate Noshwalks and published several issues of Noshnews, but I've made a special effort to explore the Bronx, where a lot is happening foodwise, culturally and residentially. There's an emerging artisanl sector - mostly, as far as I can tell - with the establishment of two rum distilleries and some craft beers. I included a visit to one of them - Rine Tirado in the Port Morris neighborhood - to my Crossing 149th Street Noshwalk in the summer. Since September 2010, I've visited Istanbul and Quito - taking food tours in each city and collecting more food lore. I didn't travel last summer - it was my daughter's last in NYC before heading to college, so NYC neighborhoods were my destinations. I led quite a few custom tours this past year. Other news: I'm transforming Noshnews from an 8-page newsletter focusing on one or two neighborhoods at a time to a soon-to-be-published free four-pager that will be more wide-ranging and flexible so that I can produce it more often and more easily, drawing on experiences I've had leading tours and exploring on my own. There won't be one concentrated neighborhood theme. Each will depend on what I see, what I"m thinking, new observations on neighborhood food trends, and so on. Each will be packed with infornation, which I think is the strong ponit o0f Noshwalks and Noshnews - that people learn more about New York City neighborhoods from being with me or reading what I've written. It got to the point where it took 10 months or more to produce one issue - very labor intensive - but I did publish 24 in that format - not bad! In October I offer the first "Dining Out With Noshwalks," a now-periodic get-together in a different neighborhood, visiting a restaurant I've been curious about but couldn't include on a Noshwalk because it didn't really fit in. The first took place in October, when we wen tto the Yemeni restaurant Oasis in the Van Nest section of the Bronx - an area where there's an emerging community of people from different Islamic countries, including Egypt, Yemen, Palestine and Turkey. The second took place in Sunset Park, where we met at Pacificana, a huge dim sum place (although dim sum was not offered in the evening - my error - some places have it 24 hours and I thought this place did...). Then we decided to go elsewhere for dessert and headed to Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park, stopping first at Gran Via, a Dominican/Cuban Bakery and then sat down at Flor de Izucar, a Mexican bakery. We had tastes at each one. That addition to our dinner was so much fun that I'll propose that the nest Dining Out will have the main meal and dessert at two different place. Expect announcements on my Facebook page about the next meal in mid=Kamiaru! You really should "like" my Noshwalks Facebook page. It's full of photos, including pictures from my travels. But in my next posts here, I will add photos from both cities. The photo in this blog is of a bunch of guys who work for Google in NYC and hired me to lead a custom tour. At first they asked if I'd lead a tour in the Meatpacking District, which I don't cover. Their offices are near there, so I told my contact that it would be much better to go someplace new. We went to Elmhurst and had mostly Thai food. A big, big yum! They loved it! I always love going there. I'm glad to be blogging again! Please let me know what you think! Myra