New York, New York

This week is the first time I've been back to New York since the move, and I spent yesterday wandering around Manhattan by myself. I had no place to be except for on the streets, and, for the first time since I moved to the city seven years ago, I felt like an outsider. With no apartment to go home to and no desk to sit behind, I really had no purpose. And because I wasn't distracted by all life's goings-on, I could finally see the city from the outside. The feeling of being here knowing that this place is no longer home is powerful. It's freedom; it's sadness. Every street I walked, every etablishment I entered held a memory. I watched the flurries of people crisscrossing paths in front of me, all hurrying to get to that place they were supposed to be, while I sat there with nothing to do but take it all in. Thing is, when you are one of those scurrying bodies, you long for the moments when you can sit back, relax, and have no plans. Most of the time, those moments are pretty good too.

Perfectly Pickled Cukes

My new obsession: Habenero Dills from Hill Country Homestyle Canning. We picked up a jar at a farmstand on 281 somewhere between San Antonio and Dallas. I ate six on the way home. And I just had another...and another...and another.

A Most Splendid Wednesday Night

It's hard to put together a series of events more perfect that the ones that unfolded last night. I have a wonderful husband, and I now I must gloat.

At quarter-to-5 we set off on a bike ride on the Katy Trail. But instead of arriving at Toulouse, the restaurant that I thought we were going to have a glass of wine at, we arrived at Spa Habitat. Surprise! Couples massage. And for no reason other than that it was Wednesday.

From there we stopped in at Cru and each got a flight of three wines and, of course, a cheese plate. We biked home, where we consumed even more wine and cheese (and, as luck would have it, I had a smidgen of Red Hawk, one of my all-time favorite soft and stinky cow's milk cheeses, left in the fridge - made even better by letting it get all oozy as it sat on a wood board by the fireplace. Mmmmmm.

To top it all off, Blood Simple, the Coen Brothers' first movie, had arrived via Netlflix. What's more romantic than a bottle of cabernet franc, a cheese board, and a knife planted in M. Emmet Walsh's hand by a 27-year-old Frances McDormand? For me, not much.,

An Evening at the Stoneleigh

Last night I got a behind-the-scenes tour of the Stoneleigh Hotel, a 1923 property that was restored to its glamorous Beaux Arts self just last year. It's actually a five-minute walk from my apartment. I met Kate Neu, the hotel's PR director, at the bar, which is the kind of place that exudes old-world romance à la the Oak Room. On one wall, a worn red velvet banquette with a back spiring to the ceiling begs for you to sit on it and sip and old-fashioned as you daintily swing your high heel and scan the room. Above the bar itself are several pretty beaded glass chandeliers. But the best part was learning from the bartender a few secrets about the place...You see, back in its heyday the owner lived in the penthouse, which he outfitted with all kinds of secret passageways and storage spots. He even hid his mistress in a room on the second floor. Sneaky, sneaky.

I got to walk through that 12th-floor penthouse, which is now used as an event space. 500-year-old wood panels ring an entire room, there's hand-painted wallpaper in the dining room, and cozy little library bar. Now, I just need someone to hold a function there (and invite me). Meanwhile, I can't wait to mynext take in-town visitor to the bar!

Road Trip!

We took of first Texas road trip over the weekend! The reason, above all, was that we were attending a party on Saturday night in San Antonio...

On our honeymoon back in September, we met five couples from San Antonio on our small cruise ship. Granted, they're my parents' age, but still, we had a great time hanging out with them that week. At the end, we were officially invited to the party they throw annually the second week of November.

So, on Friday afternoon we got in the Jeep and headed to Austin, where we spent the night to break up the trip (it's a five-hour drive to San Antonio). We had a fantastic dinner at East Side Cafe. It's tucked into the leafy neighborhood of Cherrywood, and housed in...a house. It's one of those places that has had its own garden since way before it was cool to do so. For starters, we ordered the crudité plate full of radishes and carrots fresh from the garden. My favorite was the watermelon radish - it's fairly mild for a radish, and when it's sliced it looks like little watermelon pieces. Dip it in a little kosher salt. Mmm.

The next morning we parked downtown and had brunch at Taverna. Freakin' good breakfast potatoes and $1 mimosas and bellinis! We meandered around downtown, stopping to partake in the Green City Festival and the farmers' market. Yes, Austin is every bit as chilled out, green, and delicious as we'd been told.

There were three items on our San Antonio to-do list: 1.) the Alamo, 2.) the Riverwalk, and 3.) El Mercado, the cluster of Mexican shops (if you went to Mexico and didn't bring back souvenirs, just come here). By 6 o'clock, we'd done it all, and that includes the educational video at the Alamo and a pit stop for margaritas.

Rather than taking the interstate home from on Sunday we took 281, which is a long stretch of country road that passes cattle ranches and small towns that post their population numbers on their welcome signs, as in EVANT, TEXAS. POPULATION 393. We passed through LBJ's hometown, (surprise!) Johnson City. We even pulled over at a farm stand to sample some fresh pecans. We passed the entrance to the Chisholm Trail, and the place where we'd turn to get to Dinosaur Valley State Park, which we're eagerly awaiting to check out on our next long, lazy drive...

Testing Dallas's Public Transportation

Last week I took my first ride on a Dallas public bus. This was my second test of the city's public transportation system—the first being the time Dan and I rode the rails of the new Green Line train out to the State Fair, a trip that, despite the crowds, went rather smoothly.

Back to the bus ride...I was trying to get from my apartment in Uptown to 560, the restaurant housed in the big ball at the Hyatt hotel. I used the Trip Planner on DART's web site, which told me how to get from point A to point B. So far so good. I caught the bus on McKinney heading downtown and kept an eye out for my stop, Houston and Young Streets. Well, the bus never stopped at "Houston and Young," and pretty soon I was whizzing out of town on a bus bound for god knows where. After we got far enough away from downtwon that I realized I'd missed something, I asked the bus driver to let me off and I transferred to an uptown coach. Turns out I needed to get off at Union Station, which is located at Houston and Young. Would've been nice if the easy-to-use Trip Planner would've just mentioned that. So, I finally arrive back at Union Station, and I see the ball! Great! I walk towards it only to find a wide gap in the ground holding several north and southbound train tracks. Can't go over it, can't go under it...

Turns out I had to make a big arc around the station and down an underbridge ramp to get to my final destination. Great night to be wearing heels...Thanks again Dallas for being so pedestrian—and public transportation-friendly.

But I do have a soft spot for one mode of transport in Dallas's system: the M-Line trolleys that runs up and down McKinney. A.) They're free. B.) They're actually refurbished trolleys from the early 20th century—kind of like the historic trolley tours found in other cities, but without a driver spouting off factoids. Kind of makes me want to don my best feathered hat and head for a night on the town...

The Joy of Costless Furniture

Because there are things like garage sales and pickup trucks here in Dallas, the great bounty of free stuff you encounter stacked on the sidewalks of New York on trash night just doesn't exist. Or so I thought...

Yesterday on our way home from a walk around the neighborhood, we came across a staggering pile of discarded household items next to the trash chute on our floor—dishes, hanging pictures, a coat rack, two vintage-looking travel chests. It was too good to be true, so Dan suggested we wait around to make sure someone wasn't just stashing it there momentarily (a ridiculous suggestion, I know). Pretty soon a guy came in from outside who was clearly the one moving out. Of course we could have all that stuff, he beamed—he'd be thrilled to see it go to someone who needed it rather than to the dumpster. In fact, he had a big lounge chair and a tv stand that he wanted to unload, and would we have a look?





So, not only did we come home with a few pictures to hang on the wall and one of the chests, we got a fab new tv stand (that actually fits our tv), and a big comfy chair.

Later that night on our way back in from a bike ride, we discovered yet another surprise in front of our door—a wine rack filled with red wine. Must be that our new friend just didn't have a use for it at his new place? I think it was just an incredibly generous "Welcome to Dallas" gift.



Oh, and those free wine glasses I nabbed? I think I know where they came from now!