When it gets far below freezing in Manhattan, the city becomes a bit of a ghost town. We peered out our window this morning on a day where the high was supposed to be 11 degrees Fahrenheit, and there wasn’t a sound. We didn’t see anyone walking on the streets at all. And when we finally hauled ourselves out of the apartment to have an early dinner and get outside, even if just for a few hours, we found that the popular Thai restaurant walking distance from our apartment, which usually has an hour-long-plus wait no matter what time of the day you decide to show up, had multiple tables and bar seats open. That was NOT normal.

These are the times when you just want to hibernate and not go outside. But actually, for popular places that usually have a wait, if you really want to go, these are really the times to go and not have to deal with the senseless waits of regular days.