Put on Your Sunday Clothes...

X2O

...for a beautiful Sunday in Yonkers. Yonkers is the town where "Hello, Dolly" takes place and it is set right along the Hudson River. The area on the river has been redone in the last few years and there is a park along the riverside, restaurants and apartment buildings. My friend Pene has been talking about a restaurant there, X2O, and we chose it for a birthday/farewell celebration. The chef is Peter X. Kelly from Iron Chef. The restaurant has one of the most beautiful settings I can imagine, jutting out into the river with a view of the river and the Palisade mountain ridges in New Jersey. Though the morning was overcast the afternoon was seventy and bright sunlight. The only thing missing were autumn leaves.

The Palisades of New Jersey

We celebrated our friend Tamar's 90th birthday and said farewell -- not goodbye -- to our friend Hella who is moving to Brazil. Tamar is in our bible study with Pene and me and Hella was one of my first friends when I joined our synagogue eighteen years ago.

Our dear friends

The food was a feast. I started with pumpkin bread -- a favorite of mine -- and then had fresh fig salad, salmon and dessert was warm chocolate cake and homemade pistachio ice cream. I don't think I'll eat again until tomorrow. Everything was delicious.

Wishing you all sunny days, autumn leaves, celebrations and a great week ahead!