Txikito, 240 9th Ave., Manhattan

Pat and I ventured last to Txikito, just two doors down from Company in Chelsea, where we dined the night before. We were totally and completely unaccompanied. You just have to believe me on this.

For two people by themselves, we ordered a hell of a lot of tapas, and it was all quite marvelous. We enjoyed foie gras, mushroom carpaccios, croquettes of cod, fried cippolini onions, some sort of crab stuff, and more. None of it was disappointing. My favorite was the veal jowl terrine. Cow cheeks! So decadently excellent!

Afterward, totally by ourselves, we hankered for some cocktails, and we took a cab to the East Village. We were gently turned away at Death & Co., but Amor Y Amargo, a couple doors down (443 E 6th St.) caught our eye and we squeezed in to the little space and were treated to some great cocktails. This place bills itself as a bitters tasting room. You wouldn't think two people could drink so much, but we sampled the house gin & tonic, a couple different versions of Negronis, a Manhattan with house-made vermouth, an a'l'ancienne, vermouth on draft, and other alcoholic treats. Before we departed, apparently because it was our two-week wedding anniversary, the friendly bartenders treated us to the most awesome flan, with a very brown-sugary quality. It was seriously wonderful.

Company, 230 9th Ave., Manhattan

Pat and I went to the High Line on a delightful summery afternoon yesterday. I had given it a quick inspection back in the wintery months, but it was a joy to see it all green, and recognize the genius of how the cement was laid into the greenery. It was clogged with people but I couldn't begrudge them the pleasure we experienced. When we got to the end, at 20th St., we learned that it will actually be extended to be twice as long in June.

We had dinner afterward at Company (Co.), in Chelsea, an NFT recommendation. We started with a mouthwatering veal meatball appetizer with many beefy slices of bread; this could have sufficed as an entree. The pizzas were darned good as well. I had the Boscaiola, with pepper flakes, caramelized onions, aged mozzarella and sausage. Pat was not 100% happy with his "ham & cheese" pizza, with slices of prosciutto laid across the top; he thought the slices should have been cut up more but I'd have been unfazed.

My ginger lime soda was spicy and tasty; Pat's Six Point draft was delicious but pricey: $8!

The Breslin, 16 W. 29th St., Manhattan

Today I enjoyed another long lunch with my fellow Real Housewife of New York City, Matt. What could be more perfect than an entertaining friend who is free for weekday outings? Yayyyy! Er, what I mean is, I hope you get a job soon, Matt!

We went to the Breslin, at the Ace Hotel in the Flatiron district. I noted that as with our last lunch date, Matt had suggested a location very heavy on the cow decor. But it is a very appealing space. I had a great refreshing cocktail called "Lust for Life," and Matt drank his 2011 summer staple, Campari with soda.

The food was really great. We started with a bowl of mussels and chorizo in a delicious broth with bread to soak it up. It had sounded good, but was even better than I anticipated. Matt got a softshell crab sandwich with decadent fries, and I had a veal sandwich with roasted potatoes. Really satisfyingly tasty.

Portions weren't huge, but that just set us up for dessert. We went to Matt's go-to cupcake place, Buttercup Bake Shop, 973 2nd Ave. We are not really into doing things halfway so we ordered four of them and shared: hummingbird, lemon, red velvet, and German chocolate. The best was hummingbird. It was just lovely. German chocolate was also a winner, and lemon had a great tangy flavor, although it and red velvet were a little too dry (cakey, as Matt characterized it).

Hudson Square Exchange, 333 Hudson St., Manhattan

I have a dearth of New York friends; it's quite sad. So I did a web search for various groups or clubs I might join to meet some people. I was elated when I found a group called Silly Drunken Board Games!

I was really, really excited about this so I dolled myself up and walked all the way to Hudson Square Exchange in the West Village. It was such a gorgeous day! And I felt as green to New York as the first day I got here 3 months ago, marveling at where I was. Ahhhh.

The silly drunken board game players were, on the whole, a good bunch. I talked for a while with a kid Ben who is a reformed vegetarian ("I was vegetarian my whole life until about four years ago when a waiter said that adding chicken to your salad was a half-price special"....awesome!) and a dancer (contra, tango). There was a woman named Victoria who seemed very laid back but then turned out to be a smoker - who wants smoker friends? A freelance copy editor named Sadie was amusing but not my type, and I didn't get to have a conversation with Rachel, the host, who seemed really nice. A securities and exchange lawyer, Doug, was kind of excessively intense, and Linda didn't seem to have much of a sense of humor. Jennifer partnered with me for Scrabble and was way better at it than me, but I didn't get much of a sense of her personality. Manuel, from Spain, was nice, as was Roshan.

I would go again. Might bring my own board game because I feel like we had too many large-group games underway, and smaller groups would have offered a better opportunity for me to befriend people, which is obviously in everyone's best interests.

Oh I almost forgot to describe the restaurant. It was surprisingly quiet for happy hour; perhaps there are not a lot of offices around there? I ordered a burger and did not like it. It was a little too uniformly textured, and the taste was kind of odd. Also, I was supposed to get truffle fries, and I am pretty sure they were just regular fries, although they were perfectly good.

Inatteso Pizzabar Casano, 28-30 West St., Manhattan

I don't know how I lived so long without SeamlessWeb, back in the dark ages before our move to NYC. I can't believe I used to have a file folder - yes, an actual manila folder - labeled "Delivery" and I would put actual paper delivery menus in it and then leaf through them when I needed food in Washington. Which, by the way, was such a rarity, because not a lot of places delivered to my 'hood anyway, and back then I used to....cook. I know. I know. Take a minute to let it sink in.

To be honest, last week I started to rediscover cooking, though it makes me feel like less of a New Yorker to admit it. On our way back from our mini-moon, we stopped at a Shop Rite in Perth Amboy, and we bought ingredients. Then I baked bread and cooked some pork in the slow cooker, and made my ghetto fake-crabmeat-mayo-and-french-dressing pasta dish. We have feasted on sandwiches and wraps and ghetto pasta. It has been healthy and economical and even pleasurable, and it fills me with urban shame.

But it's not like I have kicked my restaurant habit, or my SeamlessWeb habit. Last night we ordered from Inatteso Pizzabar in Battery Park City. In under 40 minutes we were treated to a large margherita pizza with added mushrooms, and we thought it was terrific. Four thumbs up.

There is a new little hurdle for our delivery people: our building is being staked out by the media. While future generations will no doubt view this as the least interesting non-story ever, and in fact I find it that way myself right now, apparently plenty of people out there can't get enough news about the French head of the IMF who resigned after being accused of sexually assaulting a hotel housekeeper. The guy posted bail and is now staying temporarily in our apartment building. 24 hours a day, bored-looking reporters and photographers linger outside the front and back entries, shining bright lights on the doors and yearning for this non-celebrity to emerge. Let's just say he doesn't go out a lot. Anyway there are extra security guards and police officers posted so it must be a bit intimidating for a delivery person, although maybe they see this all the time in New York. Imagine if a genuine celebrity were staying here!

Dizzy Izzy's New York Bagels, 185 Varick St., Manhattan

Somehow Pat, who loves a New York bagel, had been here for almost 3 months without sinking his teeth into one. So we moseyed down to Dizzy Izzy's in Battery Park City on Sunday and each of us enjoyed a toasted sesame seed bagel, mine with salmon spread and Pat's with regular cream cheese. We were very pleased. Pat was overwhelmed by the quantity of cream cheese, but I say bring it on, bagel babies.

Nu Sushi, 76 Pearl St., Manhattan

Another rainy New York day, another SeamlessWeb order. Pat asked if I had ordered before from Nu Sushi, in the Financial District, and I confessed that as with recipes, even when I find restaurants I like, I am nonetheless compelled to try new ones anyway. What if there's a better one out there?

But I chose very well this time, and will need to return! My New Roll (tuna, avocado, eel) was outstanding, with great quality fish and avocado. My mouth waters just at the memory of eating it last night. Likewise, my piece of yellowtail sushi was out of this world - a perfect, delicious, huge slab of fish with just a hint of wasabi over the rice. Mmmmmm. Pat's California Roll was nothing special, although it was quite sizeable. And the best part - it arrived in less than 20 minutes! We're about half a mile from the restaurant.

I wonder if the size of the yellowtail was related to how late it was (almost 9:00 PM) - perhaps they had sushi to unload at the end of the day. This seems like it could be a tasty formula to remember, if I can wait that long to get dinner.

Popover Cafe, 551 Amsterdam Ave., Manhattan

Obviously you want to hear about the popovers. But first, I have to tell you that Pat and I got married. It was the best fun! I recommend it to anyone.



But let's talk popovers (or Yorkshire puddings, as my kin the Brits refer to them). I was excited that there was a cafe devoted to them, but it was just so-so. We're talking about Popover Cafe on the Upper West Side. I had one big ol' popover with strawberry butter, and a bowl of chicken noodle soup, and a mug of hot chocolate that really should have been bigger and sweeter for the $5 pricetag. My popover kind of failed to thrill, which is odd for a place that is all about popovers, right?

Oh well. The important thing is that now I am married.

Soma By Nature, 123 William St., Manhattan

I went on SeamlessWeb last night with an eye toward sushi. Soma By Nature, in the Financial District, was very highly rated and offered sushi, but my eye was caught by a user review that was very positive on a dish called the Emperor's Rice Cake Stew (dapoki, this user called it). So I took the plunge.

The dish was delicious and perfectly spicy. I am not familiar with Korean food so I don't know how typical were the fat, cylindrical rice cakes (about half an inch in diameter and 2-3 inches long). Chewy and sticky, they weren't my favorite part of the meal, but still perfectly good, and the meat and vegetables were lovely. I wish there had been more of them, proportionately, in the stew.

Bennie's Thai Cafe, 88 Fulton St., Manhattan

I ordered red curry with beef and bamboo shoots from Bennie's Thai Cafe in the Financial District, via SeamlessWeb, and found it pretty bland. Likewise with the spring rolls. Really not that much flavor to either of them. And that's really all I have to say on this matter.

Cascabel Taqueria, 1542 2nd Ave., Manhattan

You cannot get good Mexican food in England, according to my sister Amy, who is visiting from London. She has vowed to eat her weight in Mexican food during her stay, and we got la bola rolling with a trip to NFT-recommended Cascabel Taqueria on the Upper East Side. It was SO DELICIOUS. I had the carne asada tacos, which come in corn tortillas with creme fraiche, oyster mushrooms, and crispy onions. My tastebuds thrill at the recollection. Amy had the pollo chipotle tacos, a little spicy in a good way. We shared a huge dollop of lovely guacamole. We had a table outside on a perfect day, and laughed at the UESers' small, in-bred excuses for dogs walking by. We are thinking of returning 24 hours later because the experience was so pleasant.

We traipsed through Central Park a bit and then Amy was hell-bent on a red velvet cupcake, so we visited a place totally without a name on 72nd St. on the Upper West Side. Seriously, no name on the shop, no receipt, no name on the boxes....it was a whole bakery; why no name? In the end it doesn't matter, because our cupcakes were sub-par, on the dry side. Forgettable even if we did know the name.

Then we had drinks at Wine and Roses, 286 Columbus Avenue, then we went to a downscale bar whose name I didn't note, then I got another cupcake at Magnolia Bakery on Columbus. I liked it (red velvet, per Amy's influence) but it had a whipped cream frosting and I really prefer a heavy buttercream. That was dinner yesterday - two drinks bookended by cupcakes! It felt so good to put aside the wedding checklist and be self-indulgent for a day.

Ulysses, 95 Pearl St., Manhattan

When Pat got home from work yesterday, I was a little crazed from a day of wedding checklist activities, and so while we did not theoretically have time to spare for an evening out, we went out anyway. We walked in the direction of Stone St. and ended up in Ulysses, in the Financial District.

The fish aspect of my fish and chips was bland, but the chips aspect was right on the money: crispy, tasty. Pat had the "soft" lobster roll that left us still wondering what made it particularly soft. It too came with the satisfying fries but the sandwich itself featured a lot of filler, and too much dill for my taste. My St. Boltoph Town Brown Ale washed it all down nicely.

Ulysses' atmosphere was fine. It was sort of standardly tavern-like. Pat looked at the old lyrics sheets for Irish drinking songs adorning the walls and said he wished he and his friends had had those back in the day when they would knock back drinks and disturb other patrons with half-remembered verses about "spending all my tin on the ladies" etc.

Bubby's, 120 Hudson St., Manhattan

Brian and Becca came into town for the car show and chose Bubby's in Tribeca for dinner on Saturday.

I ordered the barbecue combination platter, and while they were out of one of the three meats, the remaining two were REALLY good. My sides were top-notch: broccoli with a dreamy cheese sauce, and creamed spinach. I got a Dark And Stormy to drink and it was great; I would have had a second (and possibly even a third!) but for the $12 price tag.

As we were eating, an enormous fiberglass cow was placed outside window right in front of our table, its rear haunches facing in at us. Humourous.

Brian and Becca told us the coconut cake was out of this world, and I tried a bite of Brian's: YUM. My own dessert, peanut butter and chocolate pie, was really good but far more peanutty than chocolately, unfortunately. It really needed a fudgy, half-inch layer of chocolate under all that peanut creaminess.

It has to be said that the service was slow and haphazard. It was as if the several different staff who attended to us were all thinking of something entirely different. We were kicking back and enjoying the company so it wasn't really a problem, but it was certainly an area in need of improvement.

Champ's Deli, 71 Broadway, Manhattan

This deli is wickedly close to where we live in the Financial District, so I have tried it on a couple recent occasions.

The first time, I had a ham and fresh mozzarella panino, on focaccia with sundried tomatoes. It was really mouthwatering.

The second time, I used SeamlessWeb to order a small make-your-own spinach salad with chinese noodles, fresh mozzarella, broccoli, avocado, and Russian dressing. When I went to pick it up, they realized I had ordered at their other location (30 Broad St.) but said they'd bring it right over - and sure enough, it showed up about 3 minutes later! So A+ for service.

As for the salad itself, the application of dressing was very generous, which I liked, but I prefer spinach salads made with baby spinach - these were huge coarse leaves, which could also have been more finely chopped. And for an $1.00 each, they could have thrown in a bit more avocado and the mozzarella. Overall an okay choice, but not great.