On Nick's Deli and Naps

When you're entertaining until 2:30 but have to get up at 6 a.m. and you're not a coffee drinker, some adjustments are in order.

The energy's got to come from somewhere and for me it's food and lots of it (and doubtlessly a little nap before I go out tonight).

And not just any food, but the kind of eats that will distract me from my fatigue and keep me going long enough to get a few things done before giving into it.

Despite a crack of dawn breakfast, that meant a mid-morning chocolate chip scone hot out of the oven at Garnett's.

They bake their scones fresh every morning and while it's true that most baked goods are better fresh out of the oven, scones are sublime when they're warm and steaming.

The variety of scone changes daily but with my chocolate sweet tooth, I lucked into the ideal taste delight for me today.

And when you get up at 6, you're ready for lunch by 11.

I hung on until after 11:30, but not by much, and then I made the two-block dash to Nick's Deli on Broad Street (okay, Nick's Produce and International Market, if you want me to be specific).

As a recent commenter to one of my restaurant posts wrote, "...nothing in the world beats a sandwich from Nick's."

I heard that and today I needed an 8" ham, turkey and bacon sub doused in oil and vinegar.

What a huge and delicious sandwich; with a pile of potato chips almost as big as the sub, I got enough sustenance to be relatively productive before shifting into siesta mode.

At the counter being rung up, I was asked how my day was going.

I explained that it was a 3 1/2 hour night with an early morning wake-up call.

Handing me my bag, the girl empathetically said, "Eat this and then take a nice long nap."

You know, I think I will.