I've been traveling and staying with friends lately, and..

Winter in nyc aint so bad. The east village ceases to be a virtual stop on the path train and becomes too far away a destination for rich riff raff and whoever else I've decided I hate. Local bars become local and that sort of thing. I get cold on sunny late-mornings and end up walking far out of my way for soup. I like B&H on 2nd near saint marks. The waitress on the day shift is strangle looking but beautiful with startling green eyes. Her goal seems to be to intimidate you into feeling lucky to be eating there. That's part of the fun. Sometimes you have to order twice before anything gets done. Today a handsome guy in his thirties broke her concentration by rolling his eyes and mouthing silently at the loud old man yapping to his wife next to him. This reference to her annoying customers seemed to delight her tremendously and she walked over with a smile and said something to him too quiet for me to hear. Soon after the two of them slipped out, maybe for a cigarette, and she was gone for ten minutes. She got back with her hair down and used the baret clipped to the edge of her jacket to whip her hair back into a tight formation on the back of her head. She smiled at me and I ordered my order a second time.
A bowl of soup and a stack of buttered challah is just over 3 dollars. Skip the matzoh ball which should only ever be eaten homemade anyway. The restaurant proclaims itself vegetarian but they're really just kosher (they serve fish).

Since I haven't met anyone I like enough to take on a date in a while, I've been taking out some of my female friends on fake dates. Ryan lives in greenpoint and we went to The Queen's Hideaway which I had been dying to go to after reading about it. She freaked out at the beautiful decor and fall apple, pumpkin smells that smack you in the face when you first enter. It reminded me of the old Bouley in tribeca which had an entrance that doubled as an apple cellar in fall. The food changes daily and is extravagantly described on the menu which I frown on. Why set me up for disappointment? Battali's restaurant Casa Mono serves an entree called Flank Steak with Romesco sauce which seemed like the most uninteresting thing on the menu and therefore prompted me to order it. It turned out to be one of the best things I've ever eaten. Perhaps instead of telling us that the dish is accompanied by toad fish oil potato pompoms, they should just say it's a steak with fried melon and it's so fucking good you'll have to stop your conversation to tell everyone about it. At Queen's Hideaway it turns out, everything is simple and interestingly yummy if not delicious when you get it in your mouth regardless of the menu hype. Plus it's BYOB, cheap and insanely romantic. Hopefully I'll get to go on a real date there.

As far as weekend socializing goes, I've been spending a lot of fridays or saturdays at the old speak easy on c. I find I'd rather spend my weekends dancing to hip hop with my friends (or going to weekly alt.country/hip hop ho-downs that my nashville friends throw) than going to crowded parties. The place is never too crowded and female friends I've brought there seem to appeciate that it lacks the creepy guy grabassery that becomes a prominent feature of most dance locations.

Last weekend we went to a nashville girl's house party west of park slope and got to stand around a campfire in her backyard when the first snow started to fall. I've quit smoking since but smoking by a warm fire in the snow with a glass of hot whiskey cider seemed perfect. I don't know what it is about Nashville and the Ann Arbor/Detroit metro area but almost all my good friends and girlfriends are from there. If you include Michigan, Minnesota, Boston and NY, that's nearly everyone I know. Even when they're from North Carolina it turns out they were originally from the midwest.

I've never been one to brag, but.. I won a swimsuit contest 2 days ago.

I RULE

I'm in Italy.  I buy Dolce & Gabbana every day.  Eat it, World.  Eat it.

I feel like I'm living in La Dolce Vita.