Stockholm Syndrome

Cricket is also doing the unthinkable and leaving New York.  (What's going on here?  Has NYC stopped casting its spell?)

To be fair, Cricket is only a part-time NYC resident.  The rest of the time she spends in Sweden.  Fittingly, a group of her friends met for her farewell brunch at the Scandinavian House, where we feasted on meatballs, smoked herring and lingonberries.

The Scandinavian House is restaurant/museum/specialty-goods store, all rolled into one.  If the Scandinavian foods and imported items are not enough to tempt you to visit, there's also a giant tree in the middle of the restaurant (not pictured, because it's pretty much exactly as you imagine it).

We caught the last day of the museum exhibit "Eco-Chic," which focused on sustainable Swedish fashion.  I, for one, had no idea that I was so unenvironmental.  To be honest, I never thought about the production and usage of clothes as a burden on the environment in the same way as, say, wasting paper or failing to recycle plastic bottles.  Eco-Chic explained how the production of clothes strains the environment, and the fashion industry encourages quick turnover and overconsumption.  However, there are environmentally-friendly ways to produce and maintain clothing - for example, harvesting wild silk instead of cultivating it through heat and energy.  Interesting, yah?

Midtown.  On Canon Powershot.