My friend Adam wanted cake.  Specifically, he wanted Frank Stitt’s seven-layer coconut cake, which he knows that I make upon request from time to time.  So, he suggested that we spend two nights at his family’s home on Long Island to relax, to cook, to bake, to eat.

We had bagels at a place called Greenvale Bagels in Greenvale (the signage outside deceptively suggests that the place is simply called “Hot Bagels”). Their bagels are outstanding: not too small, not too big, and the texture is just right.  They have an everything egg bagel, which I like toasted, so that the cream cheese and Nova lox, or smoked whitefish, or smoked sablefish on top goes wilty Maggie Beauty.

We had terrific falafels – dark, crunchy hull with a steamy middle – with creamy hummus and pickled vegetables on the side at a small, eatery aptly named Hummus World.  The chicken shawarma there has an untraditional spicing, but it’s slightly addictive, especially with one of the many sauces that the restaurant’s grizzly Israeli owner insisted we try.  Hummus World is in Roslyn.

And Adam invited some of our friends over for an end-of-summer cookout.  We had salmon roasted on cedar planks, Mexican elotes – cobs of grilled corn slathered with chile-mayonnaise and coated in grated cotija cheese – and lots of cake comparable to silk.

That is how I eased into a two-week trip to New York City recently, with a side trip to New Jersey to catch up with my friends the Wizard of Roz and Mr. RBI, with whom I grazed for three days from township to township - Princeton to Keyport, Manalapan to Long Branch sculptra.