We got up on Wednesday morning at my aunt's house and packed up our thngs. All the loot we had collected at Rice's Market in PA was packed into a box to be shipped ahead to our home. I am expecting it soon, hopefully before Christmas.

We than packed up our suitcases and put fresh linens on the bed for my aunt. We were delivered to the bus station and took the 1:35 into NYC. I was surprised that it was only a one hour trip, and it was a rather seamless transition from life in the country.

The bus took us right to the Port Authority and from there we took a cab to our friend's place in Chelsea. He was out, so we left our bags with his doorman Jose who was a total doll. We then went to get a sandwich at a cafe and walked around the neighborhod for a bit. We eventually got onto the subway and rode down to Prince Street to pop into Dean & DeLuca for some tea, and then across the street to Kate's Paperie. We did not get all the things we wanted to on that trip downtown, but we scouted around and picked up some roses for our host, then headed back up to his place.

We relaxed with Scooter for a while on Wednesday evening, and then my niece came into the city after work and took us to La Guardia to pick up E's sister K. I have not seen my niece in a couple of years and we caught up on everything on the adventurous ride to the airport. She had used mapquest to get directions to Scooter's place, but had sketchy and less-than-accurate directions to the airport. A little foraging on our own, and then a call to her boyfriend got us there, and getting back to the city was pretty smooth. I was surprised at how much less traffic there was at 8 pm.

When we were back in NYC, we went up to the roof and took in the city view at night. We were relaxing with a beverage of choice and enjoying the nice fall weather. My niece headed out around 11 or so as she had work and school the following day, and we settled in back at the homestead for the night with another round of drinks or two.

On Thursday we tried to go to the Gugenheim, but found it closed on Thursdays. We bought some art on the street on our stroll down to The Met where we toured around some of the art; the el Greco exhibit, some mideval stuff, and the first floor of the modern collection.

We went to dinner on Thursday night at one of Scooter's favorite places, le Singe Vert. He lived abroad in France for a few years and to him this place is sort of like going home. It was fabulous. I had a tartine which was toasted slices of French bread topped with tomato/honey confit and goat cheese. It was exquisite. I also had the duck. Tres magnifique!!

Scooter had a bowl of mussels, his favorite, and as I had never had them before, I accepted his offer to try a few. They were very delicious and melted in my mouth. I will definitely be adding them to my menu soon.

On Friday, we shopped around during the day a bit and K and E's brothers drove in to join us for dinner. It was a surprise to K right up until we were at the restaurant to meet them. I could not believe someone did not let the cat out of the bag. While we were waiting, they called to say they were stuck in traffic, and at that point we had to tell her what was going on because we had to wait for them a couple of hours.

We decided to go around the corner to a different bar where we could drink a little cheaper than at the restaurant. g lounge is a chic boy bar and we listened to some tunes and had a few drinks whille our host cruised some of the local talent. The place was packed.

We finally met up with the boys around 8 pm, not 5, and had a fair dinner at Elmo's, which is right next door to le Singe Vert. It was fair. Not great. Not soomewhere I would recommend or return to. My meal of pan-seared scallops and cheesy pumpkin rice was actually quite excellent, and Johnny, our so very cute gay boy server was actually perfect. But overall, the place was merely adequate.

After dinner we went back to Scooter's for more drinks and a little side of family drama...enough said about that.

On Saturday morning we went to meet the boys for breakfast at their hotel before they went home to DC. After that, we hit one of the chelsea flea markets. I picked up a lovely pin, and a carved asian incense holder. I think it is soapstone, and I am not sure what its traditional purpose is, but I liked it and I thought the incense would be nice stored in it. While I was browsing that particular booth, the woman whose booth it was came over and started rambling on in Chinese. Her daughter said "Whoa" to her, and began translating.

The woman was curious about my hacking cough. I exlained to her that it was seasonal allergy/sinus crud and that I just had to wait it out. She explained that there was a remedy, and asked permission to apply some white clover oil to my throat. I made my purchase and walked around some more, and did not cough again the entire time. I went back to tell her, and she gave me the bottle which was almost empty. I am going to see if I can get some at Whole Foods. She also told me to stir-fry some chopped fresh ginger and then add the egg, rice, and meat and veggies. She said add whatever I like, just be sure to use plenty of ginger. I am going to add that to my menu soon, too.

I went around the next corner at the flea market and bought a box of bright pink silk daisy tops.

Oh, and a small Wedgewood saucer as well as a second saucer that I just really liked for a couple bucks each.

E and I went back up to Scooter's to rest for a while and Scooter and K went out for a walk as they had just finished resting. We watched a movie and then decided we were hungry. It was still early enough for thr brunch menu so I proposed we go back to le Singe Vert and share a bowl of mussels. I ate nearly the entire bowl myself and could have gone back there yet another time if our budget had allowed. Divine, they were.

E and I seemed to keep missing Scooter and K most of the day, and we finally settled in for another movie in the evening and ordered out for Chinese from MaMa Buddha's. Another interestingly adequate meal, and just the low key solution we needed to recoup a little more from all the indulging we had been doing.

On Sunday morning, K was gone to the airport by 6 and a little later, E and I got up and hit another flea market and then went back downtown for our final purchases from Dean & DeLuca and Kate's Paperie. Before doing that, however, we had brunch around the corner from there at a place we found in one of our previous trips to NYC. Zoe's makes a terrific "al uovo" (sp?) pizza. It is a thin crust topped with thinly sliced potatoes, fontina cheese, mancetta bacon, and two fried eggs. Fantastic fabulous!

On the way back from the morning shopping we went to yet another flea market, this one set up inside a parking garage just a street down from Scooter's place. We looked around a little, but I was definitely nearly shopped out at this time. I decided the big corner booth would be my last, and that I would pore over what they had closely. In the back corner of the booth was a set of glassware. It was red glass on the bottom half and clear on top with gold rings around it. 20 pieces for $20. Shot glasses, water glasses and hi-ballish glasses. I had to have them but had no idea how I was going to get them home. Then I decided I could empty my back pack into my suitcase and put all the fragile stuff in it and carry it home on the plane. Perfect.

The two stores I wanted to go to were Satya and Mr Pink, both of which I saw on Queer Eye and both linked from the "Meet the Parents" episode. I made purchases at both, as well as a few other quirky stores we just happened upon and whose names escape me.

Now I am home and after this post, I need a nap!! Tomorrow is back t work...