I want Mindy Kaling to be my best friend

No, that's not a name for a recipe (although it should be - I imagine it would utilize fruit snacks, pizza bagel bites, and doughnuts all at the same time);  it's what I thought during my flights to New York as I finally indulged in her book that I purchased last year.  What was that?  Oh, I'm in New York!  I'm here for a week to check out a couple of (my dream) culinary schools, even though under the present circumstances I'll need to save up for a lifetime before enrolling in any of them.  I just thought it was worth a shot - who knows, maybe I can go into the admissions office and they'll say, "Wow! A Californian flew all the way here just to see our school even though she can't afford it?  What a dedicated student!  What a potential star!  What a passionate youth! We should give her a full ride so she can attend our classes this fall!  Also, her food blog is extremely promising!"

No? You can't see that happening?  You're probably right; a ticket here costs less than $400 and tuition costs, well, more than 10 times that. But you never know.

I'm staying at my bestie's place, a small, rite-of-passage type of apartment on the upper east side, a 5 minute walk from Central Park (I know).  She's the kind of person who has a hallway too narrow for the average American, but collects compost in the freezer and plants her own herbs on the windowsills ("I'm not out of thyme!").  Oh yeah, and she makes up her own jokes, too.  Her older sister, who somehow shares this closet with her, is a die-hard foodie and went out of her way to pull up several restaurant menus for me to look over for the weekend.  Needless to say, they're both way cooler than I am.

I won't be able to update until I get back, at least not with recipes or anything. But fret not, because there are a couple things I can't wait to make once back in California!