Wednesday, September 1, we go off to La Balconata for dinner.  They’ve changed their recipe for the mozzarella, prosciutto and pesto that I like so much; the prosciutto is now in chunks and the roasted red pepper that merely added color before has become prominent over the other ingredients, much to my dismay.  And the penne bolognese really isn’t traditional, more Northern Italian.  But Bryan’s shrimp cocktail is good as is his normal order of linguine padrino (with goat cheese and chicken).  We enjoy espresso (for B) and a glass of Fermet Branca for me.

Thursday, September 2 and I decide to try one of Eric Asimov’s suggestions from his radio review on WQXR; it’s Marco Polo Caféand Caterers.  Strictly take-out (except for two tiny tables), I order a vichyssoise (that’s cold potato soup, as if you didn’t know) that is as smooth as cream and subtly flavored; a good start.  Then a curried chicken/green apple salad on croissant along with a pairing of a salad of mixed beans and walnuts and 3-potato salad.  Along with homemade unsweetened lemonade, the cost was about $20.  Certainly not cheap but very high quality and very tasty, although no one makes lemonade like the fresh-squeezed at the Lunch Box!  I go back to the apartment and have a relaxing lunch.  As Asimov would say, “Marco Polo is located at 15 East 15th Street, just off Union Square.”

Friday, September 3, up at 8 am and we’re out of town.  After a quick breakfast at the Cooper Diner of course.  So by 11:30 we’re on the road to Zanesville ... we think.  We seem to be making fairly good time of it until 3 pm when we hit a complete stop on the Pennsylvania Turnpike outside of Harrisburg.  There’s been an accident in one of the tunnels and they’ve had to shut down the road!  Lovely.  An hour and a half sitting in pleasant weather (that’s lucky, I guess) chatting with the other travelers.

By 7:30, we’ve been on the road for three hours and have crossed the Ohio border.  Unfortunately, I’ve not done my homework and find we’re much further north in Ohio than I expected!  Hungry, we had pulled off the road in Boardman, just south of Youngstown, to have dinner at Charly’s (in business for 137 years it says).  Basically a fish place with plastic and formica everything, it’s at least clean and efficient; plus one gets a lot of food for the money.

But when I inquired as to how long it would take us to get to Zanesville, we discover our mistake.  It would take another three hours to get there so we decide to spend the night at the local Holiday Inn.  This actually turns out to our advantage as we’re told that there’s lots to see if we take our time driving the next day.  So we have a couple of margaritas in the bar and crash at 11 pm.

Saturday, September 4, we’re up at 7 am and after a hearty breakfast in the hotel (Bryan is indulging in his love of biscuits and gravy) we hit the road at 10 am.

First stop is the Terrytown Antiques Gift Shoppe just down the street.  Although it’s very pretty on the outside, there’s really nothing of the antique pedigree inside (except for some art deco style bookplates that I get); then it’s off to the quaint town of Columbiana by noon.

We’re not the first people to think of antiquing in Ohio and this is one of numerous towns that indulge the traveler; indeed we see another gay couple obviously from NYC in every shop we enter.  Plus, B picks up an interesting Roseville pitcher which is probably a recent reproduction; unfortunately it makes us believe that the piece we have at home is also, albeit a very good one.

Taking State Route 62 west, we next discover the Sterling Antique Mall in Alliance where B gets a very small cornucopia to add to his collection of them (and only five bucks).  Then off to Canton and south on I-77 to Strausberg and more antique shops; here we see a Van Bruegel (spelling?) for $900 which is offered to us at 30% off; it’s easily worth almost two grand on E-Bay but we’re reticent to make that kind of investment considering our current cash flow situation.

So after quick subs we continue on I-77 to New Philadelphia by 4 pm and the Riverfront Antique Mall, Ohio’s largest antique mall where Bryan goes wild; it’s his biggest haul of the trip.  After driving for slightly more than an hour, we arrive at the Holiday Inn outside of Zanesville at 7:30.

Tired, we have a huge steak dinner at the hotel restaurant while watching all sorts of cute boys playing in the indoor pool.  Then it’s in bed and watching a MTV music awards “documentary” before turning off the lights at 11 pm.

Sunday morning, September 5, we take our time and have the breakfast buffet at the hotel.  At 11 am, we take the highway to the center of Zanesville but first head south to Crooksville, a tiny town where we buy candles from a tiny store in a woman’s home before turning around for Roseville, the eponymous name of the most artful of the area’s ceramic makers.

We visit the Ohio Ceramic Center (right on S.R. 93 at Ceramic Road) run by the Ohio Historical Society and learn much about the local industry.  Each of the five buildings is thematic, including early utilitarian and art pottery, bricks, garden ware and industrial products.  Then to the Robinson Ransbottom Pottery Company to get new pottery, especially a set of bowls for Rosebud (hey, even the cat likes ceramics!).  It's the largest stoneware plant in the world, founded in 1900.

Finally, up to the center of Zanesville.  N.B., St. James Episcopal Church is on the Historic Register and the town is named after famed western novelist Zane Grey (the museum is on US 40 in Norwich).

First stop, Fioriware Art Pottery on Market Street where B gets lots of cute doorknobs; the ceramics however are a little “bright” for our taste.

Then outside of town again to the Zanesville Art Museum at 620 Military Road; this is a great opportunity for me to see Roseville, McCoy, Hull and more with beautiful examples of each.  Finally I learn about what we’ve been collecting (or as Bryan says, “accumulating”).  They claim that they have "the largest collection of Ohio pottery and glass in Southeast Ohio" with many examples of Weller, Roseville, McCoy, Tiffany and more.

Then back down to Main Street and the Olde Towne Antique Mall where B does his other major shopping of the trip.

By 5 pm, we drive east again to the Zanesville Pottery & China on East Pike (US Rt. 40) which is just all new stuff, and not that interesting at that.  But off a side road, at AntiQ's and Things (6595 Park Lane), Bryan finds a tiny antique dealer and his first genuine piece of Roseville – a very pretty candle holder.

By 6 pm, we’re dead tired and take a quick nap before driving back into town again for dinner.  Unfortunately, all the good restaurants are closed on Sunday; all we’re left with is franchise outfits – the town seems to have one of every variety (Olive Garden, Red Lobster, etc, etc).  We choose the Tumbleweed Southwest Mesquite Grill and Bar on Monroe Street; quite serviceable tex-mex without being too original.

By 10, we’re back at the hotel have drinks at Mad Anthony’s (the lounge – can I resist?).  It’s lights out at 10:30 pm.

Labor Day, Monday, September 6, we’re up and on the road by 8 am.  Although we had decided that we’d done enough shopping for one trip, we can’t help ourselves and stop off at a very pretty town called Barnesville.

Not only is there a great antique store there (the Barnesville Antique Mall on North Chestnut Street, where Bryan gets three more McCoy’s), there’s also the Gay 90’s Mansion.  We don’t go in but I had to see it anyway!

Then back on the road and lunch at 11 am at the Big Boy in Wheeling, West Virginia.  This is the first time in W.Va. for either of us; Wheeling is on a spindly north tip of the state; it takes all of ten minutes to drive through before getting into Pennsylvania and our first bad weather of the trip.  It’s the edge of a tropical storm which continues to pour heavy rain on us for most of the rest of the trip home.

Thankfully, we encounter no major traffic delays because of it and we arrive home at 8 pm.  We spend the rest of the evening unwinding.  I have a brief supper at John's Italian on 12th Street as Pangea is closed for remodeling until Thursday.

And now, here's some pictures of our haul ...

Tuesday, September 7, I have the parish newsletter to finish so that occupies most of my day.  Bryan treats me to dinner at Mie.

Wednesday, September 8, up at 7:30 and Bryan soon after.  I drive him to work and then finish the newsletter which I deliver to Craig+ in Cranford at 1 pm.  He's just said good-bye to his daughter Miranda who will be spending the next six months in London; I hope she has the chance to meet our friends Bridget and Jude.

Thursday, September 9, the whole bugaboo about 9-9-99 doesn’t seem to affect anyone or anything.  At 6 pm, Chef Tony takes to the kitchen.  Here’s my recipe for dinner:  Brown three hot Italian sausages for fifteen minutes in the skillet, remove and slice.  In the same pan, lightly cleaned, add virgin olive oil and garlic, then the sliced sausage followed by skinned, thinly-sliced zucchini and a yellow bell pepper, also thinly sliced.  Then sprigs of fresh thyme and finally two tomatoes from our garden and some pieces of spinach (I was running late but I should have put some more).  About five minutes before they were done, I made a half pound of spaghetti and then finally added them all together to “mix” for another five minutes.  Serve with an unfiltered 1996 Les Amoureux Merlot-Cabernet (70% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon) from Tortoise Creek vineyards in Provence.  Superb if I do say so myself!  And it doesn’t require a lot of cleanup, an additional benefit.

Friday, September 10, 6 pm, it’s out to Michelle Petersen’s for Rosh Hashanah dinner with her boyfriend Art Tsavaris and her son Matt.  The food is traditional (chicken soup followed by roasted chicken) and tasty as usual; she’s a great cook.

Saturday, September 11, we go to lunch around 3 and have some nice light pasta (spaghetti with fines herbes for me, penne with tomatoes and mozzarella for B) at Pangea, along with their signature Pangea cocktail (tequila and pomegranate juice, much like a cosmopolitan) and side salads.

It’s off to Café Loup (105 West 13th Street) at 8 pm for David Feight’s 52nd birthday.  His boyfriend, Joe Fiore has arranged it; joining us is Orrison, George and “Nacho” who have appeared at their other dinners along with a couple of men who just stay a few minutes.  The food is basically brasserie French and quite tasty; I have asparagus in a blood orange vinaigrette followed by a perfect skirt steak with mashed sweet potatoes ($18) and a glass of red wine.  Dessert is a crepe de limone and a glass of sauterne; my share of dinner is approximately $65, just about right.  In addition, I have to mention Bryan’s yellowfin tuna.  It’s deep fried so that the interior is perfectly rare with a wonderful coating ($16).

Sunday, September 12, we join Danger and Susan for brunch at Black and White on 10th Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues.  [Non-New Yorkers:  the name “Park Avenue” – which is essentially the fourth avenue – ends at Union Square; Fourth Avenue runs for a few blocks south of that.]  The reason we go there is because the owner is a friend of Scott’s but he’s not there when we are.  Although there’s very few people there, the service is inordinately slow; the waitress reminds me of a character on “Friends.”  But after I make it clear to her that I will be training her (I’m not the nicest customer at times) things improve somewhat.  And the food isn’t bad, if a bit over-priced for brunch.  I have a green and red gazpacho (half on each side of the bowl) which is light and tasty; I also have their crab cakes with wasabi mayonaisse – small but good.  Bryan has their po-boy sandwich with baked beans (the beans are the better part of it), Scott has a decent omelette of the day and Susan has the grilled three cheese sandwich.  These are all decent if not outstanding; again, the main problem with the restaurant seems to be indifferent service and prices that are a bit too high for the food.  Nonetheless, we’re glad to see our friends and catch up on Danger’s latest exploits with VH-1.

At 3 pm, we shop for some wonderful supplies at East Village Cheese Shop (40 Third Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets); this is the place to go not only for cheeses (at ridiculously low prices) but also items like olives and sun-dried tomatoes.

We get on the subway at Union Square and after walking up Fifth Avenue from 53rd Street through Central Park, we go off to the Guggenheim Museum.  It’s the final day of “Surrealism:  Two Private Eyes.”  It’s an exhibition of work from the separate collections of publisher Daniel Filipacchi and the late Nesuhi Ertegun from Atlantic Records.  It’s filled with the works of Magritte, Dali and even a whole room of Joseph Cornell boxes (obviously, there are works that the two collectors felt were sympathetic to the surrealist movement).  But, much like the Isabella Stuart Gardiner Museum in Boston, my feeling is that these aren’t the first tier works of any of the artists represented.  Nonetheless, it is rather fun.

Interestingly, we feel that the best piece is the trompe d’oeil painting which introduces the show; the work is uncredited, probably one of the Guggenheim staff, but constantly shifts perspective until one realizes that it’s in three dimensions.

By the time we get home, around 6 pm, we’re quite tired but that doesn’t stop Chef Bryan from making dinner.  It’s his version of La Balconata’s pasta padrino and here’s the recipe:  two chicken breasts fried in olive oil along with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and feta cheese over fusilli.  Superb!  Who knew that the two of us could cook?

By 8 pm, we were comfortably ensconced in bed watching the Emmy Awards on Fox.  I thought some of the high points included Bill Maher’s “politically incorrect” history of television (looking at one of the first television sets, he said it was “mysterious and snowy, like George W. Bush”), the re-showing of the final moments of “Mad About You” (Helen Hunt: “If you ever left me, I’d have to find you and bring you home – because you’d be wrong.”  Yes, I cried.) and the appearance of Robert Guillaume – approaching the podium with the aid of a cane, only half of his face really working, he received the only full standing ovation of the evening.  The one thing I miss is seeing the faces of the various comedy writers for the talk shows, including Jonathan Groff, Brian Kiley and Janine Ditullio - I knew them all when I ran Catch a Rising Star in Boston.  By a little after 11 pm we were both fast asleep.

Monday, September 13, I subway up to meet Bryan for lunch at Confetti on 5 East 38th Street, off Fifth Avenue.  I love the concept:  create your own pasta or pizza by choosing as many different toppings as you like (e.g. sundried tomatoes, garlic, olives, peas, eggplant, zucchini, etc.), then a sauce (e.g. marinara, alfredo, pesto, fresh herbs, etc.) and a pasta (penne, bowties, etc.) or on a pizza.  Served with a salad and garlic bread for only $7 for lunch, $10 for dinner.

Then we bought a couple of pair of chinos at Brooks Brothers (flat front, pleats make me look like balloon man); I’m trying for a slightly more mature look while still remaining casual.  He went back to work while I spent the rest of the afternoon getting a New York driver’s license; I’m now an official New Yorker!

Bryan gets home around 5 and we take a needed break for a martini at Dick’s and then he went for his first night of bowling for the season.  Yes, he’s captain of the “Alley of the Dolls” team again.  The local gay rag has a short piece on the team:

"Stay Out of the Gutter" at Leisure Time Bowling Lanes, Port Authority, Eighth Ave and 41st St.  Trying to meet someone in a bar is so risky. You could stand around all night, nursing the same drink for hours without talking to a single soul.  So why waste your time?  Head straight over to Port Authority, where MCAANY, a gay and  lesbian bowling league, is choosing teams tonight for the 1999-2000 season.  They'll even provide the shoes and balls.  Name one bar that can make that claim.  And when the night's over, if you still haven't made any friends, look, you're in the Port Authority.  Need we say more?

Wednesday, September 15, dinner is at MaryAnn’s where I order carne asada, a marinated steak dish which I’ve never had there before.

Thursday, September 16, it’s Dick’s for a drink and Pangea for a very early dinner.

Friday, September 17, it’s a beautiful day so I decide to walk from midtown back home.  At 7:15, we meet Ted Smith and Jim Shewalter at the new cineplex in Union Square for movie and margaritas.  Of the four of us, Ted Smith liked Kevin Bacon in “Stir of Echoes” more than the rest of us, but that may be because they were neighbors twenty years ago.  The rest of us found it pedantic and more of an old-fashioned ghost story than the psychological thriller it’s being touted as.

Then we walked over to El Cantinero at 86 University Place (between 11th and 12th Streets).  Although the food there isn’t the best, the staff is extremely friendly (possibly gay) and always remembers us, whether we’re with each other or not.  By 11 pm , we part company.  And from this point on, Ted Smith really belongs to Terre Haute, Indiana where his lover is a museum director.  He's been splitting his time between here and there but will now make Indiana his official residence.

Saturday, September 18 and lunch is a walk up Third Avenue to the Gramercy Café on the corner of 17th Street; it’s one of the few traditional Greek-style diners in the area.  For $9, I had cream of turkey soup, a large salad (with old-fashioned French dressing), half a roasted chicken over a tasty stuffing mixed with white raisins and onions, fresh spinach and a good baked potato.  Hard to beat.

Around 7, we left for a walk to the West Village, first stopping at Leo Gallery on Jane Street; they have a wonderful assortment of Arts + Crafts furniture and accessories – we bought our Roman engraving there.  This time we’re looking for frames for Tabitha’s art but the ones they have are rather too dear (a very interesting one was $300).

Not being sure where to eat, we stop first at Julius’ for a cosmopolitan; as far as I know, it’s the oldest gay bar in the city and the clientele is “varied” to say the least.

And since we’re on West 10th Street, we decide to have dinner at Tanti Baci Caffe, east one block at #163; it’s a small, basement “Italian grotto” (Zagat) that we’ve always meant to eat at.  But it’s only beer and wine which has stopped us before; but not this time as we’ve just had our pre-dinner “cocktails.”  We both start with salads, Bryan has sun-dried tomatoes and roasted peppers on Italian toast with mozzarella cheese on the side while I have the mesclun salad with fresh strawberries.  For entrees we both have the buccatini alla maticiana.  Buccatini is about the same length as spaghetti but round with a tiny hole in the middle, the maticiana sauce is a red sauce with onions and pancetta.  Yum, yum.  Bryan has a couple of glasses of pinot grigio while I have two of salice (red).

Sunday, September 19, a little birdie woke us up.  Literally.  At 7 am, I heard a rustling sound by the bedroom window.  It was a beautiful, small bird, jet black except for a deep and iridescent orange chest.  It wasn’t as nervous as we were, interestingly, and once we managed to get the window open it flew right out.  Well, good morning!

We planned a long walk to the South Street Seaport and figure we’ll eat there.  We start our walk east until we reach FDR Drive at the corner of East Houston, then walk south along the East River passing the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges before reaching the Seaport (ok, it’s another glorified Rouse Corporation mall but fun).

We decide to have lunch at Carmine’s on the corner of Beekman and Front Streets; it’s been there since 1903 and seems a bit more authentic than the chain restaurants dotting the area.  As far as I know, it's also not associated with the Carmine's in mid-town.  It’s a tiny, old-fashioned oak room with bar; the menu probably hasn’t changed since 1903 either.

We start with crisp green salads and garlic bread; Bryan has Manhattan clam chowder, obviously home-made with lots of tender clams.  I have the baked clams which are tasty if a bit tough.  Then Bryan has two perfect bluefish steaks (swimming in a butter sauce but he’s not on a diet so heh!); I have the spaghetti all’amatriciana.  Yes, the same basic dish as last night; however this uses prosciutto instead of pancetta and a heartier tomato sauce.  Along with soda and iced tea the bill is only $46 with a ten dollar tip.  Quite nice.

Then it’s a walk around the seaport and finally the mall itself, inside of Pier 17.  Very conventional – stores like the Gap and Sharper Image.  But there’s also a Foot Locker and don’t you know they have some pairs of Converse All-Star high-tops for only ten dollars!  It’s the end of the sale but I manage to scoop up a regular black pair (like I’ve been wearing for the last twenty years) and a pure black pair (soles, laces and all).  Yahoo!

Then it’s a long walk back home, through Chinatown (go there if you need gardening supplies – B got a twenty dollar bowl for underneath a planter for only $3 because of a slight chip at Jade Garden, 76 Mulberry Street) and Little Italy (the San Gennaro festival has made it a mess).

But here’s the latest place:  Saint’s Alp Teahouse at 51 Mott Street.  Now, in the interest of political correctness, it’s possible to cross some lines here; the menu alludes to another location, in Hong Kong, but the “history” claims it as Taiwanese.  Either way, you might have some problems with it intellectually.  But you won’t have a problem with their tea preparations.  I have to quote from their literature:

Saint’s Alp is the pioneer in bringing the genuine Taiwanese “FrothyTea with Pearl Tapioca” in Hong Kong.  It is made from premium tea leaves, a unique mixing formula and nutritional Pearl Tapioca, which is a beadlike starch extracted from sweet potato, cassava root and brown sugar.  Saint’s Alp has a wide range of preparations integrating the best of the west and the east.  We adopt and improve the Taiwanese style of tea-making skill, and are constantly looking for new and better products.

Ok, this will take some explaining but imagine a frothy beverage with small, chewy pillows of tapioca maybe a couple of millimeters around that you pull through a large straw.  Bryan’s was a beautiful shade of purple as well.  I opted for a “tailor-made special” which is not their specialty but I guess that’s just semantics because mine was delicious.  Also made with tea, mine had orange juice, passion fruit juice, honey, guava and lemons.  Very refreshing.  Expect to see them elsewhere if the crowds we saw were any indication.

Also, if you’re looking for cute clothing for kids, try Lilliput just south of Houston Street.

Monday, September 20, it's time to get Ecclesia, the diocesan newsletter in process.  Dinner is take-out from Tina’s on Third Avenue; Danger and Susan swear by their Chinese food but we’ve never had a menu from them.  So we tried egg rolls and sweet and sour chicken for Bryan, scallion pancakes and sauteed beef and apples.  Definitely good for the better food; the traditional dishes were bland (although to be fair, Bryan thought I had gotten him pork instead of chicken!) but my beef and apples were perfectly cooked in a light brown sauce.  Now that we have a menu, we’ll try their delivery in the future.

Tuesday, September 21, it’s raining so I can spend all day inside working on the diocesan newsletter.  We get a chicken parmesan sub from Five Roses' Pizza on First Avenue near 11th Street; I’ve always wanted to try this pizza joint as it has a good smell.  The chicken was tasty, the sauce not quite bitter yet and the bread was the saving grace.  I might not run all the way there but I could have something again; at $7 it wasn’t cheap however.

Wednesday, September 22, I finish Ecclesia.  Rosebud crashes in her house ... and she's never inside of it.  It’s a drink at Dick’s and sushi at Mie, indeed we’re the first ones there when it opens at 5:30 pm.  I get rewarded for being such a wonderful boyfriend by being allowed to watch two hours of UPN; yes, it’s last season’s finale and this season’s premiere of Star Trek: Voyager.

Thursday, September 23, lunch with Bryan for the Pepe Rosso lunch special on St. Mark's Place.  Salads accompany both of our sandwiches (you can choose soup); Bryan’s is a bit bland and more of a zucchini than grilled vegetable sandwich while mine is perfect, dependent as it is on the prosciutto.  In this case it’s top notch and the bread, mozzarella and arugula compliment it perfectly.

7:30 pm, Louise Brooks arrives at the apartment and we’re at Pangea by 8 pm.  Simple glasses of wine accompany the tomato-walnut puree; I have the orrechiette pasta special with broccoli, Louise has two appetizers – the warm goat cheese salad and the coquille St. Jacque and Bryan had the Asian beef salad.  I even went for the dessert!

Friday, September 24,  a small day to do small things.  A walk through Union Square with thick slices of Sicilian pizza.  Another walk takes us to First Avenue and a decision towards a small, early dinner.  But not much is open before 5:30 so we settle for La Focacceria at 128 First Avenue, off St. Mark's Place.  Their menu claims "Fine Sicilian Food & Drink - Est. 1914."

I have fusilli with one of their three special pasta sauces of the day – since it's Sicilian, I go for the chopped pork over zucchini although in hindsight the pork was quite good but nothing special after all.  The pasta itself was a touch bland; it looked that way also for Bryan’s spaghetti with portobello mushrooms.  Perhaps we might have tried some of the more interesting menu items, like the Cod "Messina style" - baked with pinenuts, currants and marinara - or chicken Soltner with peppers, onions and tomatoes.  On the other hand, it was very cheap with the pastas being $7 each; we also opted for the house wines and although I didn’t see either of us gag, neither did we check to see what they serve.

Saturday, September 25, we’re at the Lunch Box; I guess it will always be the default brunch.  We wander one of the last of this season’s street fairs; it's just around the corner on Third Avenue from 14th Street going south six blocks.  And can we resist one last chance for grilled corn on the cob or fried dough?

At 5 pm Garrett Lanzy arrives; one of the original members of the Crix-List and attendee of the original Crix Brunch, he’s staying the night at our apartment.  We all walk to the Monster in the Village for a drink, then to Bandito Ditto on Greenwich Avenue.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; go there the pretty boys or the infectious spirit but not for the mediocre Mexican food.  We walk back home and then Garrett and B go to King for drinks, followed by Splash and Dick’s before returning home at 1 am.

Sunday, September 26, we left the apartment shortly before noon; when we arrived at Arlo’s (ne Woody’s) at 140 Seventh Avenue, Gary Chefetz, originally a friend of mine through the St. Barnabbas group meetings, was already there.  Also joining us were Joe D’Andrea (creator and patron of the Pi-Treat – ne Crix – List), Mark Tangard (one of the more prolific posters on the site was coincidentally in NYC for a couple of weeks), Joe Fiore (the organizer emeritus of the brunches) and his boyfriend David Feight (both also on Bryan’s bowling team), and two people from New Jersey that we hadn't yet had the pleasure of meeting – Anthony and Vicky (who came in her brother’s honor).

The conversation, as usual, is robust and lively but I can’t say there’s any big difference between it being Arlo’s and Woody’s.  BTW, get the Guthrie reference?  They’ve never made a reference to it before so we don’t know why they should bother now.  They’ve changed maybe twenty percent of the menu items but none of the type of cuisine and they repainted in the original colors.  Well, if it makes them happy!  It's still decent food and decent service for a decent price.

Afterward, Garrett came back to our place to get his bags and car and was driving upstate by 4 pm.  We ordered delivery from Five Roses - it's the pizza joint on First Avenue.  Bryan made the right choice – a sausage parmigiana sandwich; I went with the chicken cutlet without the parmigiana (over spaghetti).  What, was I on a diet or something?  Anyway, the chicken was moist but needed the cheese for heft; plus the sauce was a bit too fresh.  Sixteen dollars including two sodas and two small salads.

Then the age-old question … how to spend Sunday evening.  We decide to watch our DVD of "Pi"; it’s been sitting near the tv for awhile now.  Black and white and modeled after “Eraserhead” – it was all I could do to keep my eyes open.  On the other hand, Bryan thought it was quite accomplished for Darren Aronofsky's first film.  He gives it a seven out of ten but also agreed with my assessment that he was being kind.

Monday, September 27, normal hours but even househusbands must eat.  My path takes me to Siam Lemon Leaf on Second Avenue.  It’s right next door to Pangea, which is closed on Mondays for lunch so let’s try Thai.  Eh.  The tom kha gai (soup) has tasty coconut milk but a bit too thin with blanched out chicken pieces; the red bamboo curry with pork also misses the mark.  It’s really not spicy enough and if that’s the pork I’d hate to try the beef for blandness.

Tuesday, September 28, my lunch companions will be my mother and my cousin Lorraine Dizzia (of whom you are now well acquainted).  I thought that since she might eventually take a pied-a-terre with her husband John, soon to retire, that we would walk over to the Village and have lunch at Café Balducci, the new café across the street from the world-famous food store.  We have simple sandwiches and desserts.

Wednesday, September 29, dinner is tapas at La Paella (214 East 9th Street); and I’d have to check with the FBI but I am virtually positive that we passed Joey Ramone outside on the street.  Same long stringy hair, pegged pants – as Bryan said, “didn’t look too good.”  Ah, punk rock’s Keith Richard.

Anyway, back to food.  This is one of the few tapas bars in Manhattan that really reminded us of Madrid.  We had calabacines rellenos (“stuffed squash with vegetables and almond sauce” – more like almonds in a thick sauce covering a split zucchini but quite good), esparragos blancos (“white asparagus with lemon” and capers, very delicate), jamon serrano (I really do miss the jamon y queso baquettes we had in Europe), champi (“stuffed mushrooms with jamon and shrimp” – minced, really, with a delicate spice) and aceitunas (a plate of olives).  These ranged from five to eight dollars each; we also added a half pitcher of their house sangria (full of fruit and full of potency).  Total bill of $58, plus $12 tip; smoking allowed throughout the restaurant.

At 9 pm, I watch the second Star Trek: Voyager episode of the season – not bad, really.

Thursday, September 30, we close out the month with a visit with Dr. Gigi Diamond.  Results from last week's blood test are still good; viral load is undetectable (<400) and t-cells have remained steady (about 190 this time and three months ago).  For the technically minded, I’m going to add carnitor (prescription) to my mix.  It will combine with l-glutamine (over-the-counter); Bryan has been pushing it and my doctor has no objections.

I wanted something special for dinner so he’s agreed to walk up Second Avenue with me to look for good Italian.  We wind up at Capucine’s at the corner of 19th Street (#327 Second Avenue); your hosts for this Northern Italian cuisine are Gino Bossio and Filip Miocic.  Ok, more like New Jersey transported to this Gramercy Park locale.  Bryan suggested that it was because of the funeral home next door; the visitors there would need some food before or after.

Anyway, he had standard American shrimp cocktail followed by chicken toscano (two breasts covered in prosciutto and mozzarella) while I had good clams oreganota followed by the pasta special (triangular pieces of pasta covered with zucchini, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil) and even an apple cobbler for dessert.  Even the glasses of pinot grigio and chianti were competent; and that’s the problem.  It’s as if they perfectly copied a pristine New Jersey Italian restaurant and is that a good thing?

So although our walk was designed to open up new vistas, we came away disappointed.  I know of I Trulli not too far from there which is where we should have gone.  C'est la vie; I just hope this isn't indicative of the current state of Gramercy Park restaurants.

So that ends September.  It's time to off to October where early in the month we host Bridget and Jude from England.