Yep.  That about sums up the weekend.  It began slowly.  I stopped at Whole Foods on the way home from work on Friday night and whipped up a Thai red curry with shrimp and veggies.  Then, things ramped up a bit.  The next morning, as I was washing dishes, my phone rang — Augie, on the other end, said simply, "I just read about the best pancakes in the city.  We must go get them now."  So I obliged.  I joined Augie and Lauren for an exceptional brunch at the Clinton Street Baking Company, featuring plenty of maple butter drizzled over light and fluffy blueberry pancakes, a divine lobster bisque, and some out-of-this-world huevos rancheros.  Saturday continued later that evening with a Dine in Brooklyn dinner at Minnow with my brother and Sarah, and a late night (or early morning) nibble at the Snack Dragon taco shack (mmm . . . pork tacos). 

Sunday I was awakened by the phone ringing at about 10:45.  Augie.  Again.  "We’re going to Prune."  "I can’t."  "Why not?"  "I’m broke."  "I’m treating.  We’ll be down in 15 minutes."  "Um, okay."  The hour-plus wait was well worth it for what is now my favorite carbonara in the city, peppery and full of parmesan, not to mention the monte cristo and the spicy bloody marys.  To top it off, my afternoon was spent drinking Cristal and caviar (thanks, Alvin!) on a terrace overlooking Washington Square Park.  I rounded out the weekend with the Brazilian Muse’s birthday celebration, complete with greek delicacies, an amazing cake (courtesy of La Depressionada), and, of course, cupcakes.

Thankfully, there were a few trips to the gym squeezed in there, along with some late-night dancing to burn at least a little of it off.  This weekend emphasized one thing — no matter what other random crap I have going on at the moment, my life is definitely good.   Cheers.

PS — the second society wedding I attended recently just showed up in this Sunday’s NYT.  Congrats Jon and Sarah!

So the East Village Idiot Dive Bar Crawl was a rousing success.  We stuck to John’s schedule with near-military precision, and ended the run with a visit to Katz’s Deli, where I hadn’t been in ages.  You can see the photos here.  There are definitely a few spots I’d like to go back to and spend some more time — particularly Joe’s (pictured above), which served the nastiest-smelling pickled eggs I’d ever encountered, and Lucy’s, on Avenue A.  Lucy, the older Polish woman who owns the place, seems like she’d be an interesting person to get to know.

Yesterday I had a festive Easter lunch at Lupa with the Italian side of the family, napped on the couch for a while, then headed out to do my first paid restaurant blurb at Arturo’s Pizza.  Which was closed.  Grrr.  So, Youngna, Janelle, Christiona and I headed to Cubana Café, and it turns out I can write about that instead.  Excellent.  Now if only the rest of my life would go that smoothly.

And yes, I sneaked in a few trips to the gym, both before the dive bar crawl (and the pastrami sandwich I split with Romy at Katz’s) and before Easter lunch and Cuban dinner.  Today, it’s back to my in-between-eating-out eating plan, which basically consists of various combinations of egg whites, salad, lean protein, fruits and veggies, and seltzer.  Sigh.  I’d rather have the pastrami.

Some folks think that I know everybody, and I’ll admit, I do know quite a large number of people. I also try to do my best to keep in touch with people I’ve met over the years, even if it’s not as frequently as I’d prefer. This fall, when I went out to the beach house in Kismet, my friend Katie and I somehow realized that we both knew Ben — she through her parents and I through working with him at Anderson Kill. The other night, we finally pulled the three of us together, along with Ben’s girlfriend Lillian, who currently works there. I hadn’t seen Ben in a number of years, and it was great to catch up and to meet Lillian, who shares my dislike for goat cheese. I took them to Otto (of course), and Bill was kind enough to point out the goat cheese on our cheese plate so that we wouldn’t stumble across it by mistake (thanks, Bill!). I’m looking forward to hanging out with them again — hopefully it’ll only take weeks rather than years this time.