Hollaback Girl is in town this weekend and that means two things: lots of interesting cookery (our recipe for gougeres, left) and her mission of house hunting. In case you didn't hear it earlier, she's moving out to the East coast and needs to find a place to live.

While she's not moving for six months, she wanted to get the lay of the borough landscape. With that in mind, we boarded the uptown train and headed for the Bronx. Confession: I've never been there so I wasn't sure what it would offer us. Our destination was Riverdale, the sleepy little community just over the river from Manhattan. We exited the train station and to coin a local vernacular, "Who knew?" We stumbled into a lovely and really wonderful area, full of charming little local shops and a diverse mix of people. One of the realtors we spoke to said, " It's country." As much as a borough of New York City can be "country" --well, yes, it was. The streets were clean. The air was fresh. Well, damn. it was quiet and peaceful and quite lovely. We both found it charming.

Don't get me started on the profusion of black squirrels in the area. It was practically otherworldly.